10, U7G. 




GIass_I^il 



Rnok .g. 5R7 



7t 



V 

Jefferson Davis —Amnesty. 



N THE House of 



-Representatives, 
Monday, January 10, 1876. ""^J^ 



The House having under consideration the bill [H. R. 214] to remove the disabilities 
imposed bv the third sectiou of the fourteenth article of the Amendment of the Con- 
Btitution of the United States, the pending question being on the motion of Mr. Blaine 
to reconsider the motion by which the bill was repealed. 



^- 



MR. BLAINI 



^i 



Mr. Speaker, I rise to a privileged 
question. I move to reconsider tbe vote 
which has just been declared. I pro- 
pose to debate that motion, and now give 
notice that if the motion to reconsider is 
agreed to it is my intention to otter the 
amendment which has been read several 
times. I will not delay the House to have it 
read again. 

EVERY TIME THE QUESTION OF AMNESTY 

has been brought before the House by a 
gentleman on tliat side for the last two Con- 
gresses, it has been done with a certain 
flourish of magnanimity which is an impu- 
tation on iliis side of the Hou.<e, as though 
the Republican party which has been in 
charge of the Government for the last twelve 
or fourteen years had been bigoted, narrow, 
and illiberal, and as though certain very 
worthy and deserving gentlemen in the 
Southern States were ground down to-day 
under a great t\ ranny and oppression, from 
which the hard-heartedness of this side of 
the House cannot possibly be prevailed 
upon to relieve them. 

If I may anticipate as much wisdom as 
ought to ch iracterize tliat side of the House, 
this may be the last time that amnesty will 
be discussed in the American Congress. I 
therefore desire, and under the rules of the 
House, with no thanks to that side for the 
privilesjje, to place on record just what the 
Republican party has done in this matter. 
I wish to place it there as an imperishable 
record of liberality, and laige-mindedness, 
and magnanimity, and mercy far beyond 
any that has ever been shown before in the 
world's history by conqueror to conquered. 

With the gentleman from i'ennsylvania, 
[Mr. Randall,] I entered this Cougresa in 



the midst of the hot flame of war, l?l¥6Tfi' me 
Union was rocking to its foundations, and 
no man knew whether we were to liave a 
country or not. I think the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania would have been surprised 
when he and I were novices in the Thirty- 
eighth Congress if he could have foreseen 
before our joint service ended we should 
have seen sixty-one gentlemen, then iu arms 
against us, admitted to equal privileges with 
ourselves, and all by the grace and magna- 
nimity of the Republican party. Wlien the 
war ended, according to the universal linage 
of nations, the Government, then umier the 
exclusive control of the Republican pari y, 
had the right to determine what should bti 
the political status of the people who had 
been defeated in war. Did we inaugurite 
any measures of persecution ? Did we set 
forth on a career of bloodshed and vengeance t 
Did we take property ? Did we pruhihit a.'/y 
man all his civil rights ? Did we take from 
him the right he enjoys to-day to vote? 

Not at all. But instead of a genera', and 
sweeping condemnation the Republicf.n par- 
ty placed in the fourteenth amendment to 
the Constitution only this exclusion ; ai'ler 
considering the whole subject it ended iu 
simply coming down to this ; 

That no p(nsoi) shall be a Senator or Kepre- 
sentative in Congress, or elector of President 
and Vice-l'residiMit, or liolil any olMce, civil or 
military, under the I'uiled States, or under 
any State, who, hiiving previously taken an 
oath as a member of Congress, or as :ui ollicer 
of the Unitetl Slates, , or as u ujeniher ol" any 
State Legislature, or us an executive or jiuli- 
cial ofliccr of anv State, to support the Consti- 
tution of the United States, shall have engaged 
in Insiu'rectiou or rebellion against the sanu:;, 
or given aid or conifurt to the enemies there- 
of. But Congress may, by a vote of two-tjilrtla 
of each Uoriso, remove such 'lisH,i>iiity, 



SPEECH OF HON. J. 0. BLAIWE. 



It ha» been variously estimated that this 
sectiou at the time of its original, iiisertiou 
in the Constitution included somewhere from 
fourteen to thirty thousand persons ; as 
nearly as I can gather together the facts of 
tliocase.it included ahout eighte«u thousand 
men in the South. It let go every man of the 
hiiudreds of thousands — or milli(>ns if you 
please— who had been engaged in the attempt 
to destroy tfeis Government, and only held 
those under disability who in addition to 
revolting had violated a special and peculiar 
and personal oath to support the Constitu- 
tion of the United Stated. It was limited to 
that. 

Well, that disability was hardly placed 
upon the South until we began in this hall 
and in the other wing of the Capitol, when 
tliere were more than two-thirds Republicans 
In both branches, to remit it, and the very 
first bill took that disability otf from 1,578 
citizens of the Sc)uth ; and the next bill took 
it otf' from 3,5l.Hi gentlemen — by wholesale. 
Many of the gentlemen on this floor ^ame in 
for grace and amnesty in those two bills. 
After these bills specifying individuals had 
passed, and others, of smaller numbers, 
which I will not recount, the Congress of the 
United States in 1872, by two-thirds of both 
branches, still being two-thirJ,s Republican, 
passed this general law : 

That all political disabilities imposed by the 
tliird section of the fourtcenlh article of 
anienclnien<sof the Constitution oftlie Ihiited 
States are hereby removeil from all persons 
whouisoever,except Senators ami Uepreseuta- 
tives of the Tliirty-sixth and Thirty-seventh 
Congresses, otnc^ers in the judicial, niilitary, 
and naval service of the United Slates, heads 
of dei)artinents, and foreign ministers of the 
United States. 

Since that act passed a very considerable 
ntimber of the gentlemen which it still l«ft 
unilor disability have been relieved specially, 
by name, in separate acts. But 1 believe, 
Mr. Speaker, in no single instance since the 
act of May 22, 1872, have the disabilities 
been taken from any man except upon his 
respectful petition to the Congress of the 
United States that they should be removed. 
And 1 believe in no instance, except one, 
have they been refused upon the petition 
being presented. I believe in no instance, 
except one, has there been any other than a 
ananimous vote. 

Now, I find there are widely varying 
opinions in regard to the number 

THAT AKE STILL UNDKR DISABILITIES IN THE 
SOUTH. 

I have had occasion, by conference with 
the Department of War and of the Navy, 
and with the assistance of some records 
which I have caused to be searched, to be 
able to state to the House. I believe with 
more accuracy than it has been stated hith- 
.jrto, iiiit the number of gentlemen in the 



South slill under disabilities. Those who 
were officers of the United States army, edu- 
cated at its own expense at West Point and 
who joine'd the rebellion, and are still in- 
cluded under this act, number, as nearly a.'i 
the War Depaitmeut can figure it up, 325; 
those in the Navy about 295. Tiiose under 
the other heads. Senators and Representa- 
tives of the Thirty-sixth an(i Thirty-seventh 
Congresses, officers in the judiciary service 
of the United States, heads of departments, 
and foreign ministers of the United States, 
make up a number somewhat more difficult 
to state accurately, but smaller in the aggre- 
gate. The whole sum of the entire list is 
alwut — it is probably impossible to state it 
with entire accuracy, and I do not attempt 
to do that — is about 750 persons now under 
disabilities. 

I am very frank to say that in regard to 
all these gentlemen, save one, 1 do not know 
of any reason why amnesty should not bo 
granted to them as it ha.s been to many others 
of the same class. I am not here to argue 
against it. The gentleman from Iowa [Mr. 
K.^sson] suggests "on their application." I 
am coming to that. But as 1 have said, see- 
ing in this list, as I have exaiuined it with 
some care, no gentleman to whom I think 
there would be any objection, since amnesty 
has already become so general — and I am not 
going back of that question to argu'i it — I am 
in favor of granting it them. But in the ab- 
sence of this respectful form of application 
which since May 22, 1872, has become a sort 
of common law as preliminary to amnesty, I 
simply wish to put in that they shall go be- 
fore a United States Court, and in open 
court with uplifted hand, swear that they 
mean to conduct themselves as good citizens 
of the Unitnd States. That is all. 

Now, gentlemen may say that this is a, 
foolish exaction. Possibly it is. But some- 
how or other I have a prejudice in favor of 
it. And there are some petty points in it 
that appeal as well to prejudice as to con- 
viction. For one I do not want to impose 
citizenship on any gentleman. If I am cor- 
rectly informed, and I state it only on ru- 
mor, there are some gentlemen in this list 
who have spoken contemptuously of the idea 
of their taking citizenship, and have spoken 
still more contemptuously of the idea of their 
applying for citizenship. I may st;ite it 
wrongly, and if I do I am willing to be cor- 
rected, but I understand that Mr. Robert 
Toombs has, on several occasions, at water- 
ing places both in this country and in Europe, 
stated that lie 

WOULD NOT ASK, THE UNITED STATES FOR CITI- 
ZENSHIP. 

Very well, we can stand it about as well 
as Mr. Robert Toombs can. And if Mr. Rob- 
ert Toombs is not prepared to go into a court 



SPEECH OP HON. J. 0. BLAINE. 



of the United States and swear that he means 
to be a good citizen, let him stay out. 1 do 
not think that tlie two houses of Congress 
'should convert themselves into a joint con- 
vention for the purpose of embracing Mr. 
Robert Toombs and gushingly request him 
to favor us by coming back to accept of all 
the honors of citizenship. That is t)ie whole. 
All I ask is that each of these gentlemen 
shall show his goo<i faith by coming forward 
and taking the oath which you on that side 
of the House and we on this side of the 
House and all of us take and gladly take. 
It is a very small exaction to make as a pre- 
liminary to full restoration to all the rights 
of citizenship 

In my amendment, Mr. Speaker, I have 
excepted .TefFerson Davis from its operation. 
Now, I do not place it on the ground that Mr. 
Davis was, as he has been commonly called, 
the head and front of the rebellion, because 
on that ground I do not think the exception 
would be tenable. Mr. Davis was just as 
guilty, no more so, no less so, than thou- 
sands of others who have already received 
the benefit and grace of amnesty. Probably 
he was far leas efficient as an enemy of the 
United States : probal)ly he was far more use- 
ful as a disturber of the councils of the 
Confederacy than many who have already 
received amnesty. It is not because of any 
particular ami special iamage tliat he above 
others did to the Union, or because he was 
piMsonally or especially of consequence, that 
1 except hiin. But I except him on this 
ground : that he was the author, knowingly, 
deliberately, guiltily, and willfully, of the 
gigantic murders and crimes at Anderson- 
Tille. 

A Member. And Libby. 

Mr. BLAINE. Lihby pales into insignifi- 
cance before Andersonville. I place it on 
that ground, and 1 iielieve to-day, that so 
rapidly does one event follow on I he heels of 
another in the rapid age in which we live, 
that even those of us wlio were contempo- 
raneous with what was transpiring there, 
and still less those whohave grown up since, 
fail to remember the gigantic crime then 
committed. 

Sir, since the gentleman from Pennsylva- 
nia [Mr. Randall] introduced this bill last 
month I have taken occasion to reread some 
of the 

HISTORIC CRPELTIES OF THE WORIJ). 

1 have read over the details of those atro- 
cious murders of the Duke of Alva in the 
Low Countries which are always mentioned 
with a thrill of horror throughout Christ- 
endom. I h;ive read the details of the 
massacre of Saint Bartholomew, that stand 
out in history ms one of those atrocities be- 
yond imiginatiou. I have read anew the 
horrors untold and unimaginable of the Span- 



ish Inquisition. And I here before God, 
measuring my w'lrds, knowing their full 
extent and import, declare that neither the 
deeds of the Duke of Alva in the Low Coun- 
tries, nor the massacre of Saint Bartholomew, 
nor the thumb-screws and engines of torture 
of the Spanish Inquisition begin to compare 
in atroaity with the hideous crime of Ander- 
sonville. [Applause on the floor and in the 
galleries.] 

Mr. ROBBINS, of North Carolina. That 
is an infamous slander. 

The SPEAKER. If such demonstrations 
are repeated in the galleries the Chair will 
order them to be cleared. 

Mr. BLAINE. Thank God, Mr. Speaker, 
that while this Congres.=i was under differ- 
ent control from that which exists here to- 
day, with a Committee composed of both 
sides and of both branches, that tale of hor- 
ror was placed where it cannot be defied or 
gainsaid. 

I hold in my hand the story written out by 
a committee of Cf ngress. I state that Wind- 
er, who is dead, was sent to Andersonville 
with a full knowledge ot his previous atroci- 
ties; that these atrocities in Richmond were 
so fearful, so terrible, that Confederate par- 
pers, the Richmond Examinfr for one, stated 
when he was gone that, '"Tbank God, Rich- 
mond is rid of his presence." We in the 
North knew from returning skeletons what 
he had accomplished at Belle Isle and Libby, 
and fresh from those accomplishments he 
was sent by Mr. Davis, against the protests 
of others in the Confederacy, to construct 
this den of horrors at Andersonville. 

Now, of course it would be utterly beyond 
the scope of the occasion and beyond the 
limits ot my hour for me to go into details. 
But. in jirraigning Mr. I /avis I undertake 
here to say that I will not ask any gentle- 
man to take the testimony of a single Union 
soldier. I ask them to take only the testi- 
mony of men who themselves were engaged 
and enlisted in the Confederate cause. And 
if that testimony does not entirely carry out 
and justify the declaration I have made, 
then I will state that I have been entirely in 
error in my reading. 

AWvr detailing the preparation of that 
prison, the arrangements made with hideous 
cruelty for the victims, the report which I 
hold in my hand, and which was concurred 
in by Democratic members as well as Repub- 
lican members of Congress, stales this — and 
I beg members to hear it, for it is far more 
impressive than anything I can say. After, 
I say, giving full details, the report states: 

Thesubsequentliistory of Andersonville has 
stiirlled iiud shockt'd 1 lie world with 

A TALK OF HORUOK, Of WOE, AND DEATH 

before unheard and uiiknowti to civilization. 
No pt-n can descrllie, no jiuiiiter sketcli, no 
imagination comprehend it.i fearful and un- 



SPEECH OF HON. J. G. BLAINE. 



ulterable Iniquity. It would seem as if the 
coiieeiitrateil inatliiess of eartli ami hell had 
found its liiial lodj^inent in the breast of those 
wlio inaugurated the rebellion and controlled 
the jiolicy of the Confederate govern me at, and 
that the prison at Andersoiiville had been se- 
lected for ihe most teriible human sacrilice 
which the world hatl ever seen. Into its nar- 
row walls were crowiletl thirty-five thousEmd 
enlieiied me)i, many of them the bravest and 
best, thii most devoted and heroic of those 
gi'and armies whicli carried tlie rtag of their 
country to liiial victory. For long and weary 
mouihs here they sutl'ered, maddened, were 
murdered, anil died. Here they lingered, un- 
aheltered from the burning rays of a tropical 
sun by day, and droncliing anVl deadly ilews 
by night, inoverystageof mentaland physical 
disease, hungered, emaciated, starving, mad- 
dened; festering with unhealed wounds;gnawed 
bytlie ravages of scurvy and gangrene; with 
swollen liml) and distorted visage; covered 
with vermin wliieh they had no power to ex- 
tirjjale; exposeit to tlie tloodin'; rains wiiich 
droi'e them tlrowniug from the miserable 
holes in whicli, like swine, they burrowetl; 
pareiuid wiih thirst and mad with hunger; 
racked witli pain or prostrated with the weak- 
ness of tlissolution; with naked limbs and 
matted hair; nil liy with smoke and miad;soiled 
with the very excrement from which their 
weakness would not permit them to escape; 
eaten by the gnawing worms which their own 
wounds had engeiidoreil; with no Ijeil but the 
earth: no coveiing save the cloud or the sky; 
these men, these heroes, born in the image of 
God, tliuseroucliing and writhing in their ter- 
riljk^ toil ure and calculating barljarity, stand 
forth iu history as a monument of thesurpass- 
ing horrors Of Andersonville as it shall be seen 
and read in all future lime, realizingin thestud- 
ied torments of their jirison-house the ideal of 
Uauie's Inferno and Milton's ilell. 

I undertake to say, from reading the tes- 
timony, that that is a moderate description. 
I will read but a single paragrapli from the 
testimony of Rev. VVilliam John Hamilton, 
a mau 1 believe who never was in the North, 
a Catholic priest at Macou. He is a South- 
ern mau and a Democrat and a ( 'atliolic 
priest. And when you unite those three qual- 
ities in one man yon will not find much 
testimony that would be strained in favor of 
tile iiepnblican party. [Laughter.] 

This man ha(i gone to Andersonville on a 
mission of mercy to the men of his own 
faith, to administer to them the rights of 
his church iu their last moments. Tliat is 
why he happened to be a witness. I will 
read his answer under oath to a question 
addressed to him in regard to the bodily 
condition of the prisoners. He said : 

Well, as 1 said before, when I went there I 
was kept so busily engaged in giving the sa- 
crament to the ({ying men that l could not 
observe much; but of course 1 could not keep 
my eyes closed as to what 1 saw there. 

I SAW A GHKATMANV MBN PEKFKCTLT NAKED. 

Their clothes had been taken from them, 
as otlier testimony shows — 
walking about the stockade perfectly nude; 
they sei!mi'il to have lost all regaril for del- 
icacy, shame, moralty, or anything else. 1 
would freqnt-ntly have to creep on luv hands 
and knees into the holes that the men had 
burrowed in the ground, and stretch my self out 
alongside of tli(;iii»to hear tlndr confessions. 
I found theui almost living In vermin in thoao 



holes; they could not be inany other condition 
but a filthy one, because they got no soap and 
no change of clothing, and were there all 
huddled up together. 

Let me read further from the sam-i witness 
another specimen : 

The first person 1 conversed with on enter- 
ing thestoelcade was acountryrnan of mine, a 
member of the Catholic churcli, wlio recog- 
nized me as a clergyman. 1 think his name 
was Farrell. He was from the north of tre- 
laiid. He came toward me and introduced 
himself. He was quite a boy; I do noL think, 
judging from his appearance, that he could 
have Ijeen more than sixteen years old. L 
fountl him withouta hat and without any cov- 
ering on his feet, and without jacket or coat. 
He LOUl me that his shoes hail been taken 
from him on the battle-field. 1 found tlie boy 
sutleriug very much from a wound on his 
right foot; in fact the foot was split open like 
an oyster; and on inquiring the cause they 
toldmoit was from exposure'lo the sun in the 
stockade, and not from any wound received 
in battle. 1 took oil" my boots and gave him a 
pair of socks to cover ills fe.'t and lold him I 
would bring him some clothing, as 1 e.tpecied 
to return to Andersonville the loliowiug 
week. I had to return to Macon to get 
another priest to take my jiiace on .Sunday. 
When 1 returned on the following week, on 
inquiring for this man Farrell, his companions 
told me he haa stepped across the dead-line 
and requested the guards to shoot him. He 
was not insane at the time I was conversing 
with him 

Now Mr. Speaker, I do not desire to go 
into such horrible details as these for any 
purpose of arousing bad feeling. 1 wish 
only to say that th*) man wlio administered 
the atfairs of that prison went there by order 
of Mr. Davis, was sustained by him; and 
this William John Hamilton, from whose 
testimony I have read, states here that he 
went to Greneral Howell Cobb, commau ling 
that department, and asked that intelligeuoe 
as to the condition of atfairs there be trans- 
mitted to the Confederate government at Rich- 
mond. For the matter of that, there are a 
great many proofs to sliow that Mr. Davis 
was thoroughly informed as to liie condition 
of affairs at Amiersouville. 

One word more and I shall lay aside thi.s 
Ijook. When the march of General Sher- 
man, or some other invasion of that portion 
of the country, was under way, there was 
danger, or supposed danger, that it might 
come into the neighborhood of Anderson- 
ville ; and the following order — to which I 
invite the attention of the. House — a regular 
military order — order No. 13, dated, head- 
quarters Confederate dtatt-s military prison, 
Andersonville, July 27, 1S64, was issued by 
Brigadier-General John H. Winder: 

The officers on duty and in charge of the 
battery of Florida artillery at the lime will, 
upon receiving notice that the enemy have 
approached within seven miles of this post, 

OPEN FIBE UPON THKSrOCKADB WITU OBArB-SHOT 

without reference to the situation beyond 
these lines of ilefense. 

No^r, here were the«ie 35,000 poor, help- 
less, naked, starving, sickened, dying ineu. 



SPEECH 09 HON. J. G. BLAlNf. 



This Catholic priest states that h« begged 
Mr. Cobb to represent tliat if they could not 
exchaage those men, or could not relieve 
theiu iu any other way, they should be taken 
to the Union lines iu Florida and paroled; 
for they were shadows, they were skeletons. 
Yet it was declared by a regular order of 
Mr. Davis' officer that if the Union forces 
should come within seven miles the battery 
of Florida artillery should open fire with 
grape-shot on these poor, helpless men, 
without the slighest possible regard to what 
was going on outside. 

Now I do not arraign the Southern people 
for this. God forbid. that i should charge 
any people with sympathizing with such 
things. Thei'e were many evidences of 
great uneasiness among the Southern peo- 
ple about it ; and one of the great crimes of 
Jefferscn Davis was that besides conniving 
at and producing that condition of things, 
he concealed it from the Southern people. He 
labored not only to conceal it, but to make 
false statements about it. We have obtained, 
atnd have now in the Congressional Library, 
a complete series of Mr. Davis' messages — 
the ollicial imprint from Richmond. I have 
looked over them, and I li,ave here an extract 
from his message of No*«»fmber 7, 1864, at 
the very time that these horrors were at 
their acme. Mark you, when those horrors 
of which I have read specimens were at 
their extremesi verge of desperation, Mr. 
Davis sends a 

MESSAGE TO THE C0NFEDERA.TE CONGRESS 

at Richmond, in which he says : 

The solicitude of the Government for the 
relief of our captive fellow-citizens has known 
no abatement, but litis on the contrary been 
still more <leeply evoked by the additional 
sufferings to which they have been wantonly 
subjected by deprivation of adequate food, 
clothing, and fuel, which Ihev were not even 
permitted to purchase from the prison sutler. 

And he adds that the — 

Enemy attempted to excuse their barbarous 
treatment by the unfounded allegation that 
it was retaliatory for like conduct on our part. 

Now I undertake here to say that there is 
not a Confederate soldier now living who 
has any credit as a man in his community, 
and who ever was a prisoner in the hands of 
the Union forces, who will say that he ever 
was cruelly treated ; that he ever was de- 
prived of the same rations that the Union 
soldiers had — the same food and the same 
clothing. 

Mr. COOK. Thousands of them say it — 
thousands of them ; men of as high character 
as any iu this House. 

Mr. BLAINE. I take issue upon that. 
There is not one who can substantiate it — not 
one. As for measures of retaliation, although 
goaded by this terrific treatment of our 
friends imprisoned by Mr. Davis, the Senate 
gf the United States specifically refused to 



pass a resolution of rftaliatiun, as contraiy 
to modern civilization and the liist ]irec<pts 
of Christi.inity. And there was no retalia- 
tion attempted or justified. It was n fused ; 
an<l Mr. Davis knew it was refused ju t as 
well as I knew it or any other man, because 
what took place in \\ ashington or what U" k 
place in Kiclimond was known on eitlier side 
of the line within a day or two thereafter. 
Mr. Speaker, this is 

NOT A PROPOSITION TO PUNISH JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

There is nobody attempting that. I will very 
frankly say that I myself thought the indict- 
ment of Mr. Davis at Richmond, under the 
administration of Mr. Johnson, was a weak 
attempt, for he was indicted only for that 
of which he was guilty in common with all 
others who went into the Confederate move- 
ment. Therefore, there was no particular 
reason for it. But I will undertake to say 
this, and, as it may be considered an extreme 
speech, I want to say it with great delibera- 
tion, that there is not a government, a civi- 
lized government, on the face of tlie globe — 
I am very sure there is not a European gov- 
ernment—that would not have arrested Mr. 
Davis, and when they had him in their power 
would not have tried him for maltreatment 
of the prisoners of war and shot him within 
thirty days. France, Russia, England, Ger- 
many, Austria, any one of them would have 
done it. The poor victim Wirz deserved his 
death for brutal treatment, and murder of 
many victims, but I always thought it was a 
weak movement on the part of our Govern- 
ment to allow Jefferson Davis to go at large 
and hang Wirz. I confess I do. Wirz was 
nothing in the world but a mere subordinate, 
a tool, and there was no special reason for 
singling him out for death. I do not say he 
lid not deserve it — he did richly, amply, 
tuUy. He deserved no mercy, but at the same 
time, as I have often said, it seemed like 
skipping over the president, superintendent, 
and board of directors in the case of a great 
railroad accident and hanging the brakeman 
of the rear car. [Laughter.] 

There is no proposition here to punish 
.fefferson Davis. Nobody is seeking to do it. 
That time has gone by. The statute of limi- 
tations, common feelings of humanity, will 
supervene for his benefit. But what you 
ask us to do is to declare by a vote of two- 
thirds of both branches of Congress that we 
consider Mr. Davis worthy to fill the highest 
offices in the United States if he can get a 
constituency to indorse him. He is a voter; 
he can buy and he can sell ; he can go and 
he can come. He is as free as any man in the 
United States. There is a large list of sub- 
ordinate offices to which he is eligible. This 
bill proposes, in view of that record, that 
Mr. Davis, by a two-thirds vote of the Sen- 
ate and a two-thirds vote of the House, be 



SPEECH OP SON. BENJAMIN H. HILL. 



declared eligible and worthy to fill any office 
up to the Presidency of the United States. 
For one, upon full deliberation, I will not do 
it. 

One word more, Mr. Speaker, in the way 
of detail, which I omitted. It has often been 
said in mitigation of Jefferson Davis in the 
Audersouville matter that the men who died 
there in such large numbers (I think the 
victims were about fifteen thousand) fell prey 
to an epidemic, and died of a disease which 
could nut be averted. The record shows 

THAT OUT OK 35,000 MEN ABOUT '63 PER CENT. 
DIED, 

that is, one in three, while of the soldiers 
encamped near by to take care and guard 
them only one man in four hundred die<i ; 
that is, within half a mile only one in four 
hundred died. 

As to the general question of amnesty, Mr. 
Speaker, as I have already said, it is too late 
to debate it. It has gone by. Whether it 
has in all respects been wise, or whether it 
has been unwise, I would not detain the 
House here to discuss. Even if I had a strong 
conviction upon that question, I do not know 
that it would be productive o-f any great good 
to enunciate it ; but, at the same time, it is 
a very singular spectacle that the Repul)li- 
cin parry, in possession of the entire Grov- 
ernmeut, have d diberately called back into 
political power the leading men of the South, 
every one of whom turns up its bitter and 
relentless and malignant; foe ; and to-day, 



from the Potomac to the Rio Grande, tha 
very men who have received this amnesty 
are as busy as they can be in consolidating 
into one compact political organization 

THE OLD SLAVE STATES, 

just as they were before the war. We see the 
banner held out blazoned again with the in- 
scription that with the united South and a 
very few votes from the North this country 
can be governed. I want the people to un- 
dei'stand that is precisely the movement ; 
that that is the animus and the intent. I do 
not tliink ofiering amnesty to the seven hun- 
dred and fifty men who are now without it will 
hasten or retard that movement. I do not 
think the granting of amnesty to Mr. Davis 
will liasten or retard it, or that refusing it 
will do either. 

1 hear it said, "Wo will lift Mr. Davis 
again into great consequence by refusing 
amnesty." That is not for me to consider ; 
1 only see before me, when his name is pre- 
sented, a man who by a wink of his eye, by 
a wave of his hand, by a nod of his head, 

COULD HAVE STOPPKD THE ATKOCITY AT ANDEtt- 
SONVILLE. 

Some of us had kinsmen there, most of lis 
had friends there, all of us had countrymen 
there, and in the name of those kinsmen, 
friends, and countrymen I here protest, and 
shall with my vote protest, against their 
calling back and crowning with the honors 
of full American citizenship the man who 
organized that murder. 



3PEE0H OF HON. BENJAMIN H. HILL, 

OP GEORGIA, 

lu llie House of ReDresentatives, Tuesday, JaniiaiT 11, 1876. 



Mr. HILL said: 

♦ »»»»♦«*» 

I arlvance directly to that portion of the 
gentlernun's ar/Lfument which relates to tlie 
qnestion before tlie House. The gentleman 
from Pennsylvania [Mr. Randall] lias pre- 
sented to this House, anel he asks it to adoyit, 
a bill on the subject of amnesty which is jn-e- 
cisely tlie same us the bill passed in this 
House by the gent lem;i:i's own party, as I un- 
derstand it, at the hist session of Conjjress. 
The gemU'imm from Alaine bus moved a 
reconsi<ier:irion of the vote by which it was 
reject('<l, avowing iiis pnriiose to he to otter 
an luiiendmeut. The uv.un purpose of that 
amendiuciit is to excevU from theoperation of 
the bill one of the citizens of this country, Mr. 
Jelferson Davis. 

He ailefce.s two distinct reasotis why he 
asks the House to make that exception. 1 
will state those reasons in the gentleman's 
own language. First, he says, "Mr. Davis was 
the a\itiror, knowinglv, deliberately, guiltilj', 
and wdlfully, of the gigantic murder and 
crime at Aiuiersonville." That is a grave in- 
dictment. H(! then characLtn-izes in his sec- 
ond position what he calls the horrors of An- 
dersonville. 
««**♦»»♦»*» 

8ir, he stands befoi-e the country witli his 
very fame in peril If he, having inade such 
cUaryes, shall not sustain them. Xow 1 take 



J lUUUUUJj 

up the propositions of the gentleman in 
their or<ler, I hope no gentleiuitn imag- 
ines that 1 am here to pass in euiogv upon 
Mr. Davis. » # ♦ » ♦ \i^^^ ^^^ 
charge is that he isa murderer, ami a deliber- 
ate, willful, guilty, scheming mnrflerer of 
"thousands of our fellow citizens." Why, sir, 
knowing the character of the honorable gen- 
tleman trom Maine, his high reputation, when 
1 heard the charge fall from his lips, 1 thought 
surely tlie gentleman had made a recent (lis- 
covery, and I listened for the evidence to jus 
tify tiiat charge. He protiuced it; and what 
was it? To mv utter amazement, as the gen- 
tleman from Pennsylvania (Mr Kbllkv) has 
well stated it is nothing on earth but a report 
of a committee of this Congross, made when 
passions were at their height, and it was 
known to the gentleman and to the whole 
countrv eight years ago. 

Now,"l say first, in relation to that testimony, 
that it is exclusively ex parte. It was taken 
when the gentleman who is now put upon 
trial by it before the country was imprisoned 
ancl in chains, without a hearing and without 
an opportunity to be heard. It was taken by 
enemies. It was taken in the midst of fury 
and rage. If there is anything in Anglo-Saxon 
law which ought to be considered sacred, it is 
the high privilege of an Englishman not to l)e 
condemned until he shall be confronted with 
the witnesses against him. But that is not uM, 



SPSEOH OF HON. BEKJAMIN U..MILL. 



^^^'?"Y-."foreu«'mie' o It least lakJn by 
proiluctioii or eumiiies, oi u but the testi- 

?hen., ana in VjfX d in Je^ousl y mutikUed, 
^r^^',.?^ "?,m Kte.\ Tosr adroitly mu- 

^?t1,rtion called to it^by the^geutl^e.nan.^ 

autuovitios to i^'ve^^ugate the «on^^^^^^^^ 

Jones says: „ ,„,„,i tho report, wbieti I 
"1 had just coTTiple^ted tbe repo'^^ ^^ 

^'"'■l-' hcV leave to mak« a statement tx. the 

xiie ',',,,, tiip oHicers present at Anuei- 
^"i^^body with my report It a^o^^^^l 
I'^^.^-'wiuie d Dr "teven.on, and other. 

?{;f;ii::;u^r^le;^t^!«nr;^:^:\^eiretr.rt.to 
better the condition of thuisrs. 



SresUor^'i^'e'^yonrconclu.ions correctly 

''V'':l\'^v"'">art'ofmvconelnMonsarest,ated 

not Cwho^e A portion of my conclnBions 

Xiu" "auo my recommenUatioas, are not 

-^■^H^^(:^li^c^rl,V;^u^^^gIi:alreportr- 
\ urriiiq is ,nv ori^'inal report. 
That fs he imd there the extract as far as It 

^f/'^'^Oid von make this extract yourself T" 
^•he comSee seem to suspect t\.Ht he was 

the man that simply m?'^« * ® ^^J^w here 
brou"-ht it before the committee. Mow, ncie 

JMV^.u'not.^ My original r;eport is in the 

^Aud'^lmf committee of Congress to which 
th'e'ent. 'man defers ar.solntely tells us that 
VlUsHnntilated report was the o"« 'ntroduce I 
In evidence iiP^i-Jst this man VV uz, and It is 

^''^o"rT^rn7to'ca?."aU^nti<l;r,'oanotherex- 

p'anv snoh omissions; 1 have not been able to 
« Dr^'jonei'Tn his report, is giviuif an account 



^Arrrif^e^^ l-a^^fenrys?ri"^oY-^ 
*H>4urrounded by these depressing agents 

Government depressed then .^^'^ '^f'^,' >','■( f^Pand 
ing spirits, and '^esti'oyed thos.. nientiu an i 
niSr./; energies so necessa^jo^s^^ 

f,^^: a^adi^:pi::;l;^n;n^ mental .lepre^ 
sion an.l distress, '{tt^n'l'^^VJh. 'ie ire leU tl 
for an apparently l"?P«lf^%\fi'^,testruclion of 
^^^ ^^IL^^""^ '^^^^^ Of ac. 
tual disease." »»»«♦»* 

Ifnder military 'lespotism; cim«>;«^,X" of 
under duress; and MUite a huge numue^ 
Confederates were seeking to make lavui 

w°th the powers of the ^^or'.'Vnf all tl.t 'wit'- 
during tliose three months, wUli all the wu 
nesses they could bring to Wash ngton "Ol 
or,e single man ever mentioned the name oi 
Ml^ Davis in connection with a single atiocity 
at Andersonville or «l>^.ewhere ^,,,,,ect 

■wr.vir «ir there is a witness on this snnjei-L. 

sB£ss3r=i!f^:;^|So?r^r 

ment to the country, and It has never 

mmimm 

?onv?Ue his sentence would be. eoniimited 
The'^messenger vequosted me to ^J^fomi Wue 

^i^^^ex^ml^r^l^'^.^I^i^a^-P^-^-" 
^,^1^ ^I^'rslmply a^d quieUy i^ied: 

1 'ine as'to wilat was done ^t And^^^ >^- J. 
' would not become a traitor a^'","^^ 
anybody el«e even to save my life! 
^1-, wViat Wirz, ^^thin two .hours of his ^ x 

renerson Davis to Andersonville ^ "f ' *^ 
With these atrocities b J inference. ^ ^ , 



SPEECH Ob' HON. BilNJAMIN H. HlLL. 



of tlie Confederat«i Congress on that subject; 
It wa.H very simple, and directed: "The nitions 
fumitshed prisoners fiC war shall hf the same 
lu ipiaiitity and quality as tliose furnislied to 
enlisted men in tlie ariuy of tlie Cout'ederacy.'' 

Tliat was the jaw; that was the law Mr. 
Davis aj)i)rovt;d, and that wastlie law that he, 
so far as Ills agency was concerned, executed. 

Tlie gentleman in his siieech has gone so far 
as lo say that Mr. Liavis iiui-posely sent Gen- 
eral Wiiulcrto Andersoiiville to organize a 
den or Iioitois and kill Federal soldiers. 1 do 
not (J note exactly his langnage, Imt I know it 
is ''to organize a den of horroi's;"' hut lam 
yiire I eahiiot use any laiiftua^vs more hitter 
tliaii the gentleman liseil liimself. 1'lierefore 
the next thing I will read is the order given 
for tiK' jmrpose of locating this prison at An- 
ciersonville, or wherever it should he properly 
located. The oflieinl order for the location of 
tlie slocl,;ale enjoins that it should he in a 
"health \' locality, \\itli plenty of tiure water, 
with a r'linaing stream, and, if possilile, with 
shade trees, and in tlie immediate neiglihor- 
IkxxI oi grisi and saw mills." That does not 
jook like the organization of a den of horrors 
to comniil murder. Tliat was the ollleial or- 
der. That was not all. These prisoners at 
Aiiderr.'OnviIle were not only allowed the 
rations nieasure<l out to Uoiifederale soldiers, 
holli In i|iiantiiy and quality in every re- 
.speet. hut they were allowed also to buy as 
Timeh ontsiileas they desirt^d; a privile"ge, I 
am relialily informed, which was not ex- 
tended to many of the Confederate prisoners. 
1 do not know liow that is. 
*********** 

T!ie Confederate Government gave Federal 
prisoners the same rations that Confederate 
soldiiT>< in the iield received. Federal ])rison- 
ers hud iierinission to buy whatever else tliey 
jjleasfd, and the Confederates gave their 
friemlsat lionie permission to furnish them 
the means to do so. And \'e1. Mr. Speaker, it 
jslriiethat, in siiite of all these advantages 
enjoyed by these prisoners, there were lior- 
rors, and" grt^at horrors, at Andersonville. 
What w ere the causes of those liorrors? The 
thsi w as want of medicdne. » * * 

Now, how was it that medicines and other 
essential supplies could not be obtained? Un- 
fortunately they were not in the Confederacy. 
The Federal Government made medicine coii- 
trahand of war. 

The Feileral Government made clothing con- 
traband of war. It sent down its armies and 
they burned up the faetoiMrs of the South 
wherever they could lind them, for the ex- 
piess purpose of preventing the Confederates 
from (urnishing clothes to their soldiers, and 
the Federal prisoners of eoui-seshareil this de- 
privation of comfortable clothing. It was 
the \var policy of the Federal Government to 
make sii|)i>lies scarce. * * * 

Now, then, sir, wliatevei- horrors existed at 
AndeisouviIli\ not one of them could be at- 
tnibuted loa single act of legislation of the 
Confederate (i!o\'eriiment. or to a single order 
of the Confederate Cxovernment, Ijut every 
honor of Ainlersonville grcnv out of the neces- 
sities of the occasion, which iiecessiti(^s were 
cast upon the (Jonfetleraey by the war policy 
of the other side. The gen"tlenian from iVIaine 
said that no Con fi'derate prisoner was ever 
iiialtreated in the North. And when my frienil 
answered from his seat "a thousand witnesses 
to the cond'aryin Georgia aloi\e," the gentle- 
man from Maine joined issue, but as usual pro- 
dne-'d no test itiiony in su |iport of his Issue. 1 
tiiiiik the gentlenran from .Maine is tolie ex- 
cused. For ten years unfortunately he and his 
hav(^ been n^viling the people wlio were not 
allo\\ed tocome liere to meet the reviling. 
Now, sir, we are face to face, and when you 
make u charge you must bring ycmr proof. 
Thfc tluie lias passed wheu the couutry can ac- 



cept the impudence of assertion for the force 
of argument, or recklessness of statement for 
the truth of history. 

Now, sir, 1 do notVlsh to unfolil the chapter 
on the other siile. I an'ian American. Ihonor 
my country, and my whole country, and it 
could be no pleasure "to me to bring forward 
proof that any portion of my countrymen 
have been guilty of willful mur(ler or ofcruel 
treatment to poor manacled prisoners. Nor 
will I make any sucli charge. Tiiese horrors 
are inseparable, many of them and most of 
them, from a state of war. I hold in my hand 
a letter written by one who was a surgeon at 
the prison at Flmira, and he says: 

"The winter of 1*)4. 1S(!5, was "an unusually 
severe an<l rigid one, and the prisoners arriv- 
ing from the Southern States during this sea- 
son were mostly old men and lads, clothed in 
attire suitable" only tothegmiial climate of 
the South. I need not state to you that this 
aloni! was ample cause for an unusual mortal- 
ity among them. The suiroumlings were of 
the following nature, namely: narrow, con- 
fined limits, but a few acres in "extent" — 

And Andersouville, sir, embraced twenty- 
seven acres — 

"and through which slowly flowed a turhid 
stream of water, carrying along with it all tlie 
excremcntal filth and debris of the cauiii; this 
stream of watei-, horrible to relate, was the 
only source of supply, for an extemled period, 
that the prisoners could possibly use for the 
jmrpose of ablution and to slake their thirst 
from day to day; the tents and other shelter 
allotted to the camp at Klmira were insutli- 
cient ami crowded to the utmost extent; 
hence small-pox and other skin diseases raged 
through the camp. 

"Here 1 inav note that, owing to a general 
order from the Government to vaccinate the 
prisoners, my opportunities were ample to 
observe tlie elfects of spurious and diseased 
matter, and there is no doubt in my mind l;ut 
that syphilis was ingrafted in man5"' instances; 
ugly and horriljl- ulcers and eruptions of a 
characteristic nature were, alas! too fre- 
quent and obvious to be mistaken. Small-pox 
cases were ciowc^ed in sucli a manner that it 
was a matter of imi^ossibility for the surgeon 
to treat his pat lent individually; they actually 
laiil so adjacent that the simi>l(; movement of 
one would cause bis nciiihbor to ci-y out in an 
agony of pain. The continent and malignant 
type )iievail(Hl to such an extent and of sneh 
a nature that the body would freixuenlly be 
found one continuous seal). 

"The diet and other allowances by the Gov- 
ernment for the use of the prisoners wei'e am- 
ple, yet the poor unfortunates were allowed 
to starve." 

Now, sir,the Confederate regulations author- 
izetl ample provision for Federal prisoners, 
the same that was inad(! for Confederate sol- 
diers, and you charge that Mr. Davis is respon- 
sible for not ha\ing those allowances hon- 
estly suiiplied. The United States made pro- 
vision for Confederates jirisoners, so far as ra- 
tions were concerned, for feeding those in 
Federal hands; and yet ^\ hat says the sur- 
geon? "They were allowed to starve." 

"I!ut 'why?' is a cfnery which 1 will allo<V 
your readers to infer auil to draw conclusions 
theri'fiom. t»ut of the nundier of prisoners, 
as before mentioned, viver three *l)ou.san<l ot 
them now lay bviried in this cemetery located 
near the cani)) for tliat purpose — a inoitaiity 
ecjual if not greater t lian that of any jirisou in 
the South. At Andersouville, as 1 am well in 
fornieil by lirother ollieers who endured con- 
Jiuenient then?, as well as by the records at 
Washington, the mortality \vas twelve thou- 
sand out of, say, foity thousand ]>risoners. 
iience it is readily to be seen that the range 
of mortality was "no less at Elmira tlmu at An- 
dersouville." 



gpy.ficfi (3f fioM. lmjamin h. mill. 



j'Mr. ri,AT'r AVili llKjyciiileman allow iiio 
to iiili^i riipt iiim a iiioiuent toask him where 
be fi(!ts tliat statement? 

]\fr. UILL. It iM the statement of a Federal 
surgeon publislied in tlie New York ITorW. 

Mr. I'l.ATT. I desire to say that 1 live 
within tliirty-six miles of Klmira, and that 
those stateuients are unqualifledlj- false. 

Mr. HILL. Yos, and I suppose if one rose 
tVoin the dead the gentleman would not be- 
lieve him. 

Mr. I'LATT. Does the gentleman say that 
those statements are true? 

Mr. IHLL. Ceitainly I do not say that they 
are true, Imt I do say that I believe tlie state- 
ment ol* the snrgeoii in charge before that of a 
politician thirty-sixmilesaway. ♦ * * Now 
I call the attention of gtMitlenien to this fact, 
that the report of Mr. Stanton, the Secretary 
of War— you will believe him, will you not? — 
on the iOth of July, 18(;i) — send to the Library 
and get it— exhibits the fact that of the Fed- 
eral prisoners in Confederate hands during the 
war only 2-2,.57() died, while of the Confederate 
prisoners in Federal hands 2(!,436 died. And 
Surgeon-General IJarnos reports, in an otticial 
reixirt — 1 suppose you will uelieve him — that, 
in round numbers, the Confederate prisoners 
ill Federal hands amounteil to 'iiO.OUO, while 
the Federal prisoners in Confederate 
hands amounted to 270,IX>0. Out of 
the 270.000 in Confederate hands 22- 
000 died, while of the 220,000 Confed 
erates in Federal hands over 2(>,000 died. 
The ratio is this: More than 12 per cent, of 
the Confederates in Federal hands died, and 
less than 9 i)er cent, of the Federals in Con- 
federate hands died. ^ hat is the logic of 
these facts according to the gentleman from 
Maine? 1 scorn to charge murder upon tlie 
officials of northern prisons, as the gentleman 
has done upon Confederate prison officials. 1 
labor to demonsl rate that such miseries are 
inevitable in prison life, no matter how hu- 
mane the regulations. 

♦ #*#»•♦«♦» 

But the great question is behind. Every 
American, North or South, must lament that 
our country has ever im])eachofl its civiliza- 
tion by such an exhibition of horrors on any 
side, and I speak of these thino;s Avith no de- 
gree of pleasure. God knows if I could hide 
them from the view of the world I would 
gladly do it. i'.nt the greatquestiou is, at last, 
who was responsilile for this state of things? 
And that is really the only material question 
with which statesmen now shoulfl deal. Sir, 
it is well known that, when the war opened, 
at first the authorities of the United States 
determined that tliey would not exchange 
prisoners. The first" prisoners captured by 
the Federal forces were the crew of the Sav- 
annah, and they were put in chains and sen- 
tenced to be executed. Jefferson Davis liear- 
ingofthis, comnlunicated through the lines 
and the Confederates having meanwhile also 
captured prisoners, he threatenefl retaliation 
in ease those men sutfered, and the sentences 
avainst the crew of the Savannah were not 
executed. Subsequently ourfriends fromthis 
way, * * » insisted tiiat there should be a 
cartel for the exchange of prisoners. In 18(i2 
that (!art(d was agree^l upon. In substance 
and briefly it was that there should be an ex- 
change of niau for man and officer for officer, 
and whichever held an excess at the time of 
exehangc should iiarole the excess. This 
worked" very w ell until 1803. 
♦ »**♦*»♦*»» 

In lS63tbis cartel was interrupted; the Fed- 
eral iiutlioriti(;s refused to eonlinne the ex- 
change. * » » * This I say frankly to the 
gentlemen on the other side, was in truth one 
of the severest blows stricken at the Con- 
federacy, this refusal to exchange prisoners 
In 1803 and continued through 1864. The 



Confederates made every effort to renew the 
cartel. Among other things, on the 2d of 
July, 18fi:5, the Vice-President of the Confed- 
eracy, the gentleman to whom the gentleman 
from Maine, (Mr. Ulaink,) alluded the other 
day in so complimentary terms, Mr. Alexander 
H. "Stephens, was absolutely conimissioned i)y 
President Davis to cross the lines and come to 
Washington to consult with the Federal au- 
thorities, with a broad commission to agree 
upon any cartel satisfactory to the other side 
for the e"xchange of prisoners. Mr. Davis said 
to him, "Y'our mission is simplx' one of hu- 
manity, and has no politieal aspect." Mr. 
Stephens undertook that work. What was 
the result? I wish to be careful, and 1 will 
state this exactly correctly. Here is bis letter: 

CONFEDEKATK STATES StBA.MEII TORI'UDO, 

In James Ilivtsr, July -1, h^OS. 

Str: As military commissioner, 1 am the 
hearer of a comniunicatlon in writing from 
Jetlerson Davis, Comman<Ier-iii-Chief of the 
■land and naval forces of the Confederate 
States, to Abraham Lincoln, Comnian<ler-in- 
Chief of the land and naval forces of the 
United States. Hon. Kobert Ould, Confed- 
erate Statesagent of exchange, accompanies 
me as secretary, for the purpo>-e of deliver- 
ing the comni'unieation in pi'i-son and con- 
ferring upon the subject to whieh it relates. 
I desire to proceed to Washington in the 
steamer Torpedo, conimande<l by Lieutenant 
Hunter Davidson, of the Confederate States 
navy, no person lieing on board but Hon. Mr. 
Oulil, myself, and the botit's officers and, crew. 
Yours, most respectfully. 
A LUX. H. Stkfuens. 
To S. H. Leb, Admiral. 

This was directed to S. H. Lee, admiral. 
Here is the answer : 
Acting Ivcar-Admiral f^.Tl.f.-aT:,H(impfonRoads: 

The request of Alexander II. Stephens is in- 
admissible. * * * 

Gideon Wei,ls, 
Seoretary of Nary. 

You will acknowledge that Mr. Stephens' 
humane mission failed. The Confederate au- 
thorities gave to that mission as much dig- 
nitv and cliaraeter as possible. » * » The 
Federal Government would not even receive 
him ; the Federal authorities would not hear 
him. 

What was the next eflbrt? After Mr. Ste- 
phens" mission failed, and after the com- 
missioner for the exchange of prisoners. Colo- 
nel Ould, havingexhaustedallhisetlortsto get 
the cartel renewed, on the 21th Januai-y, 18(i4, 
wrote the following letter to Major-General E. 
A. Hitchcock, agent of exchange on the Fed- 
eral side. 

Confederate States of AsrEKiCA, 

vVAn Dkpautmf.nt, 
RK!HM0nd, Vtrointa, .lanuary 24, 1864. 

Str: In view of the present dithenlties at- 
tending the exchange :ind release of prison- 
ers, I propose that all such on either side shall 
be attended by a proper number of their own 
surgeons, ^ho, nuiler rules to be estal>lisbed, 
shall be permitted to take charge of their 
health and comfort. I also propos<' that these 
surgeousshallactascommissaries, with power 
to i-eceive and distribute such conti ibntions 
of money, food, clothing, and medicines, as 
may lie forwarded for the reliid" of the i»rison- 
ers. I further propose that these surgeons 
shall be selected bv their own Goveiniiient, 
and that they shall have full liberty, at any 
and all times, through the agiMils of exchange, 
to make reports, not only of their own acts, 
but of any matters relating to the welfare of 
the i)risoners, 

Uespectfully, your obedient servant, 

liOHKltT OVILD, 

Atrent of Exchange. 
Major General E. A. HiTcncocK, 

Agent of Exchange. 



10 



Si»jbSich op son. beKjamin h. hill. 



The SPEAKER. TheUourof thegeutleman 
lias oxplrert, 

Mr. JtANDALL. Imove tliegcntleinanfrom 
Gcoi-fjia Vie allowed to proceed. » » * » * 

There was no objection. 

Mr. BLAINE. I believe the jfentlemaii from 
Georgia [Mr. Hill] wa.s a menilier of the Con- 
federate Senate. I And in a historical book of 
gome authenticity of character that in the 
Confederate Congress, Senator Hill, of Geor- 
gia, introduced the following resolution, relat- 
lug to prisoners 

Mr. HILL. Vou are putting me on trial 
now, are yon ? Go ahead. 

Mr. IJLAINE. This is the resolution : 

"That every rier.son pretending to he a sol- 
dier or ottlcer of the United States who shall 
be capinred on the soil of the Confederate 
States after the 1st day of January, lSfi3, shall 
be presumed to have entei-ed the territory of 
the Con fcflerate States with tlie intent to in- 
cite insurrection and abet murder: and, un- 
ie.ss satisfactoi-y proof be. adduei^d to the con- 
trary before the military court before which 
the trial shall be had, shall surfer death. Thi.s 
section .sjliall continue in force -until the proc- 
lamation issued by Abraham Lincoln, dated 
at Washington on the '2-2d day of Septemlwr, 
186-2, shall be rescinded, ami the policy tlierein 
announced shall bo abainloned, and no lon- 
ger." 

7r-»**-»-»*.»# 

Mr. HILL. » » » My own Impression 1« 
that I was not the author; but Ido not pie- 
tend to recollect the circumstance.^. If the 
gentleman can give me the circumstances un- 
der which tlie resoUition was int reduced they 
might recall the matter 1o inv mind. 

Mr. BLA IN E. Allow me to' read further: 

"Octolier 1, 18(i'2.— The judiciary Committee 
of the Confederate Congress made a report and 
offered a set of resolutions upon tUesubject of 
President Lincoln's proclamation, from which 
the following are extracts : 

"2. Every white person who shall act as m, 
commissioned or non-coommissioned officer, 
commanding negroes or mulattoes against the 
Confederate States, or who shall arm. organ- 
ize, train or prepare negroes or mulattoes tor 
military service, or aid them In any military 
enterprise against the Confederate States, 
shall, if captured, sutfer death. 

"a. Every commissioned or non-commis- 
sioned officer of the enemy who shall incite 
slaves to rebellion, or pretend to give tliein 
freedom under the aforementioned actof Con- 
gress and proclamation, by abducting or caus- 
ing them to be abducted or inducing them to 
aljscond. shall, if captured, snITer death." 

Thereupon Senator Hill, of Georgia, is re- 
corded as having offered the resolution 1 have 
read. 

Mr. HILL. I was chairman of the Judiciary 
Committee of the Senate. 

Mr. BL.\INE. And this resolution came di- 
rectly from that committee? 
■**** •* * * * * 

Mr. HILL. I say to the gentleman frankly 
that I really do not remember. 

Mr. BLAfNE. The gentleman does not say 
he was not the author-. 

Mr. HILL. Idonot. Iwillsaythis: I think 
I was not the author. Possibl j-"l reported t he 
resolution. It refers in terms to "pretendeil," 
not real soldiers. 

Mr. BLAINE. I thought that inasmuch as 
the gentleman's line of argument was to sliow 
the character of the Confederate policy, this 
might aid him a little in calling up the facts 
pertinent thereto. [Laughter and applause.] 

Mr. HILL. With all due deference to the 
gentleman, I reply he did not think anv such 
thing. He thought he woubl <iivert me from 
the purpose of my argument and break its 
force by—. 



Mr. BLAINE. Oh, no. 

Mr. HILL. He thought he would get up a 
discussion about certain measures presented 
In the Confederate Congress having no rela- 
tion to the subject now under discussion, l)ut 
which grew out of the peculiar relation of the 
Southern States to a population then in servi- 
tude — a population which the Confederate 
Government feared might be incited to insur- 
rection — and measui-es were doubtless pro- 
posed which the Confederate Government 
may have thought It proper to take to pro- 
tect helpless women aad children in the South 
from insurrection. 

* * * * * * ■* *-* 

But, sir, I have read a letter from the Con- 
federate Commissioner of Exchange, written 
in 1964, proposing th.at each sidesend surgeons 
with the prisoners ; that they nurse and treat 
the prisoi\ers ; that the Federal authorities 
should send as many as they pleased ; that 
those surgeons be commissioned also as com- 
missaries to furnish supplies of clothing and 
food and everything else needed for the com- 
fort of prisoners. 

Now, sir, how did the Federal Government 
treat that offer? No reply was ever re- 
ceived. 

Then, again, the Confederates made two 
more proijositions. I will state thatthe cartel 
of exchange was broken by the Federal au- 
thorities for certain alleged reasons. * * 
» * » The Confetlerates next proposed, 
in a letter from Colonel Ould, dated the lOth of 
August, ISi'A, waiving every objection the 
Feileral Government had made, to agree to 
any and all terms to renew the exchange of 
prisoners, man for man, and officer for officer, 
as the Fc(ieral Government should prescribe. 
Yet, sir, the latter rejected that proposition. 
It took a second letter to bring an answer to 
that jiroposition. 

Then, again. In that same month of August, 
13G4, the Confederate authorities did this : * 

* * They proposed to send the Federal 
sick and wounded prisoners without equiva- 
lent. * ♦ * That proposition, com- 
municated to the Federal authorities in Au- 
gust, 1864, was not answeretl until December, 
1864. In De(H>mber, 1864, the Federal Govern- 
ment sent ships to Savannah. Now, the re- 
cords will show that the chief suffering at 
Andersonville was between August and De- 
cember. Tne Confederate authorities sought 
to avert It by asking the Federal Government 
to come and take its prisoners without equiva- 
lent, without return, and it refused to do that 
until four or live months had elapsed. 
*■*■*■ ** * *■*-)*• 

Now, sir. It was in reference to that state of 
things exactly that Dr. Jones reported, as I 
have already read to the House, in his re- 
port which was mutilated before that Commit- 
tee of Congress and in the trial of Wlrz — it 
was in consequence of that very state of things 
that Dr. Jones said that depression of mind 
and despondency and home-sickness of these 
lioor prisoners carried more to their graves 
than did physical causes of disease. That 
was not won(\erful at all. 

But, Mr. Speaker, why were all these ap- 
peals resisted? *********** 

Who is at fault? There must be a reason for 
this. That is the next pouit to which I wish 
to call the attention of the House. 
■* ■* ■* *•»*** * 

Here is General Grant's testimony before 
the committee on theexchange of prisoners, 
February 11, 18«5. You believe him, do you 
nof 

' Question. It has been said that we refused 
to exchange prisoners because we found ours 
starved, diseased, and unserviceable when we 
received them, and did not like to cxchangre 
sound men for such men." 



SPEECfi OP IfON. BENJAMIN fi. HILL. 



11 



Thai was the question propounded to him. 
His answer was: 

"Answer. There never has been any such 
reason as that. That lias been a reason for 
making exchanges. 1 will confess that If our 
men who are prisoners in the Soutn wei-e I'e- 
ally well taken care of, sutfeiing nothing ex- 
cept a little privation of lilx^rlf, then,in a 
military point of view, it would not be good 
policy for us to exchange, becaua*^ every man 
they get back is forced right into the army t 
once, while that is not the ca.se with our pris- 
oni'i-s M hen we receive them; in fact, the half 
of our returned prisoners will iiever go into 
the army again, and none of them will until 
after they liavt- had a furloufih of thirty or 
si.Yty days. Still, the fact of their suttering as 
they do is a reason foruiakiiig tUia exchange 
as rapidly as possible. 

''Q. Aiid never has been a reason for not 
making the excliange? 

"A. it never luis. Exchanges having been 
suspended by reason of disagreement on 
the part of agen ts of exchange on bot h sides 
before I came into command of the armies of 
the United States; and it Then being near the 
opening of the spring camjiaign I diil not 
deem it advisaljle oi' just to the men who had 
to tighl our battles to re-enforee tlie enemy 
with thirty or forty thousand tliscipliued 
troops at that time. An immediate resump- 
tion of exchanges would iiavo had that etfect 
without giving us corresiionding , benefits. 
The sutlering said to exist among our prison- 
ers South was a powerful argument against 
the cour.se pursued, and so 1 felt it." 

There is no disputiua: the factthat, with tlie 
knowledge that his prisoners were suffering 
in the South, he insisted that the exchange 
should not be renewed, because it would in- 
crease the military powerof the enemy. Now 
tliat may have been a good military rcasoTi. I 
do not (|UOte it foi' the purpose of reflecting 
upon General Grant in the slightest. 1 aiii 
giving the facts of history. * * * i give 
you the facts, and 1 liave g'iven you General 
Grant's interpretation oftho.se facts. Let the 
world judge. 

******** 

Against whom does the charge lie, if there 
are to be accusations of any, for the liorrors of 
Andersonville? 

Mr. JLJlilGllT. What was the percentage of 
deaths in the prisons? 

Mr. iilLL. 1 have already given it. I have 
proved also that, with allthe horrorsat Anfl«r- 
sonville, * * * greater sull'erings occurred 
in the prLsons where Contederate soldiers were 
confined, and that the percentage of death was 
3 per cent, greater among Confederate troops 
in Federal hands than among Federal soldiers 
held by the Confedfrales. And I need not 
state the contrast between the needy Confed- 
eracy and the abuntlance of Federal" supplies 
and resources. 

-X- ******* 

Sir, if any man will rfflect a, moment ne will 
see that there was reason whythe Confederate 
governmentshould de8ireexchang<! of prison- 
ers, it wass(Mrceof food, pinched foi' clothing, 
closed up with a blockade of its ports; it needed 
troop.s; its ranks were thinning. 

Now, Ml'. S (leaker, it is jiroper that I should 
read one or two senltnices from the man who 
lias IxMMi ai'iaigned as 1 he v lest murderer in 
histoi-y. Aitei- lli(^ bailies around Uichmond, 
in which iNleClellan was defeated, some ten 
tliousaiKl prisoners fell into the hands of the 
Confederacy, \ictory had pei'Cheil upon its 
standard, andtlie lejoicingnaturally follow- 
ing victory was lieiird in the ranks of the 
Confederate army. Mr. l)avis went out to 
make agratulalory sjieech. Now, gentle- 
men ofilie House, gentlemen of the othcM'side, 
if you are willing to do Justice, let ine simply 
call your attention totiae' worda of this man 



that then fell from liis lips in the hour of 
victory. Speaking to the BOldier.s, he said: 

"You are flgliting for all that is dearest to 
man, and thou{|h opposed to a foe who disre- 
gards many ot the usagf^s of civilized war, 
your humanity to the wounded and the pris- 
oners was a flt and crowning glory of your 
valor." 
*** « ** *** 

The gentleman from Maine yesterday Intro- 
duceti the Richmond Examiner as a witness 
in his behalf. Now, it is a rule of law that a 
man cannot im]->each his own witness. It is 
true that the Examiner hated Mr. Davis with 
a cordial hatred. The gentleman could not 
have introduced the testimonv of perhaps a 
bitterer foe to Mr. Davis. Whv did It liate 
him? Here are its reasons: "The chivalry 
and hunumity of JetTerson Davis will inevita- 
l>ly ruin the Confederacy." That is your wit- 
ne^ss, and the witness is worthy of your cause. 
* * * That is not all. In the same paper it 
says: "The enemy have gone from one un- 
manly cruelty to another. Encouraged by 
their impunity till they are now and have for 
some time been inflicting on the people of this 
country the worst horrors of barliarous ami 
uncivilized war." Yet in spite of all this the 
Exaininer alh^ged "Mr. Davis in his dealing 
with the enemy was as gentle as a sucking 
dove." 

***»*»#• 

I do no doubt that I am the beann' of unsvel- 
come tnessages to the gentleman from iMaine 
and his party. He says that there are Confed- 
erates in this body, arid that they are going to 
comi>ine with a few from the North for the 
purpose of controlling this Government. If 
one wereio listen to the gentlemen on the 
other side he would be in doubt whether they 
rejoiced more when the South lett the Union, 
or regrcLtod most when the South came back 
to the Union that their fathers helped to form, 
and to which they will forever hereafter con- 
tribute as much of patriotic ardor, of noble 
devotion, and of willing sacrifice as the con- 
stituents of the gentleman from Maine. O. 
Mr. Speaker, why cannot gentlemen on the 
other side rise to the height of this great ar- 
gument of patriotism ? Is the bosom of the 
country always to be torn with this miserable 
sectional debal,e whenevera Presidential elec- 
tion is pending? To that great debate of half 
a century before secession there were left iio 
adjourned questions. The victory of the 
North was absolute: and God knows the sub- 
mission of the South was complete. But, sir, 
we have recovered from the humiliatio'i of 
defeat, and we come here among you and we 
ask you to give us the greetings accorded 
to brothers by brothers. * * » 

S^ir, my message is this: There are no Con- 
federates in this House; there are now no Con- 
fcilerates anywhere; there are no Confederate 
schemes, ambitions, hopes, desires, or pur- 
poses here. Uut the South is here, and here 
she intends to remain. [ Knthusiastic ap- 
plause.] Go on and pass your qualifying acts, 
trauiple upon the Constitution you have 
sworn to support, abnegate the pledges of 
vonr fathers, incite rage upon our people, and 
inultiply vour infidelities until they shall be 
like the'stars of heaven or the sands of the 
seashore, without number: but km)w this, for 
all vovir iniquities the South will never agaui 
seek a remedy in the madness of another se- 
cession. [Coiitinued applause.] We are here; 
we are in the house of our fathers, our broth- 
ers are our companions, and we are at home to 
stay, thank God. [Much applause.] 

*■ » * We come charging upon the Union 
no wi-ongs to us. The Union nt^ver wronged 
us. The Union has been an uninixeit lilessing 
to «very section, to every State, to every 
man of "every color in America. We charge 
all our wrongs upon that "higher la^'' 



12 



S^]e:]^cia o:^ fiON. JaMKs a. (iAfiMiSLD. 



lUiiaticisuj that never kept a pledge nor 
obeyed a law. The Soutli did seek to leave 
tlie assooiatioii of those who, she believed, 
woald not iceep lideliiy to their covenants; 
the South sought to go" to herself; but, so far 
from having lost our fidelity to the Constitu- 
tion which our fathers nia<lo, when we sought 
to go, we hugged tluit Constitution to our 
bosoms and carried it witli us. 
********* 
Sir, we did the Union one great wron^. The 
Union never wronged the .south ; but we of 
the South did to the Union one great wrong ; 
and we come, as far as we can, to repair it. 



We wronged the Union grievously when we 
left it lobe seized and rent and torn by the 
men who haddenouiieed itasa "covenant with 
liell and a league with the devil." Wo ask 
you, gentlemeu of the llepublican party, to 
rise above all your animosities. Forget your 
own sins. Let'us unite to repair the evils that 
distract and oppress the country. I^et us turn 
our backs ui)on tlie past, and lei it be said in 
the future that lie shall be the greatest pa- 
triot, tliQ traest patriot, the noblest patriot 
who shall do most to repair the wrongs of the 
past and promote the glories of the future 
[Applause on the floor and iu the galleries.] 



AMNESTY-MR. HILL, GEORGIA. 

Ill tlie House of Rejreseiilaliyes, January 12, 18?6. 

MR. GARFIELD: 



Mr. Speaker, no gentleman on this floor 
can regret more sincerely than I do the 
cour?e that the debate has taken, ospecially 
that portion which occurred yesterday. To 
one who reads the report of that discussion 
it would be difficult to discover 

THE REAL QUESTION AT ISSUE 

and to learn from the Record itself the scope 
and character of the pending measure. I re- 
gret that neither llie speech of the gentleman 
from New York [Mr. Cox] nor that of the 
gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Hill] has yet 
appeared in the Record. I should prefer to 
quote from the full report, but, replying 
now, I must quote them as their speeches 
appeared in the public journals of yesterday 
and to-day. But they are here, and can 
correct any inaccuracy of quotation. Any 
one who reads their speeches would not sus- 
pect that they were debating a simple propo- 
sition to relieve some citizens of political 
and legal disabilities incurred during the 
late'war. For example, had I been a casual 
reader and not a listener, I should say that 
the chief proposition yesterday was an ar- 
raignment of the administration of this Gov- 
ernment during the last fifteen years. If I 
had been called upon to pick out those dec- 
larations in the speech of the gentleman 
from Georgia [Mr. IIill] which embody the 
topic of debate, I should have said they were 
these : 

The history of the last fifteen years is yet 
fresh in the minds of the world. It is useless 
tospealc of the grace and magnanimity of the 
Republican party. With the master enslaved, 
with intelligence disfranchised, with society 
disordered, with States subverted, with Legis- 
latures dispersed. peoi>Ie cannot atford to talk 
of grace and magnanimity. If that is grace 
and magnaniraitv, 1 pray God to spare the 
country in the future from such virtues. 

I should say that the propositions and 
arguments arrayed around that paragraph 
were the center and circumference of his 
theme. Let me then in a few words try to 
recall the House to the actual topic of this 
debate. 



A gentleman on the other side of the 
House, a few days ago, introduced a propo- 
sition in the form of a bill to grant amnesty 
to the remaining persons who are not yet 
relieved of their political disabilities under 
the Constitution. That is a plain proposition 
for practical legislation. It is a very im- 
portant proposition. It is a proposition to 
finish and complete forever the work of exe- 
ctitiug one of the great clauses of the Con- 
stitution of our country. When that bill 
shall have become a law, a large portion of 
the fourteenth amendment will have ceased 
to be an operative clause of the Constitution. 

Whenever so great and important a matter 
is proposed a deliberative body should bring 
to its consideration the fullest and most 
serious examination. But what was pro- 
posed in this case ? Not to deliberate, not 
to amend, not even to refer to a committee 
for the ordinary consideration given even to 
a proposition to repeal the tax on matches. 
No reference to anybody ; but a member of 
the House, of his own motion and at his own 
discretion, proposes to launch that proposi- 
tion into the House, refusing the privilege 
of amendment and the right to debate, ex- 
cept as it might come from his courtesy, and 
pass it, declaring, as he does so, the time 
has come to do justice to an oppressed 
people. 

Under circumstancea like these, Mr. Speak- 
er, a large number of geiitlemen on this 
floor felt they had a right, under the rtiles 
of the House and in the forum of justice and 
fair dealing, an undoubted right to deliber- 
ate on the proposition; that it should be 
open for amendment and debate. Every 
expression on this side of the House showed 
that we were earnestly in favor of so closing 
this last act in the drama of war so far as it 
relates to disabilities ; that it should be 
closed forever — 

CLOSED IN OOOD FAITH 

and with good feeling. We deeply regretted 
that the attempt was made to cut us off from 



SPSECH OF HON. JAMES A. GARFIELD, 



13 



deliberatiou and ameiidment, and w« there- 
lore thi-fW ourselves back upon our rights ; 
and it is by virtue of tliose rights that we 
debate this question to-day. 

The genlleiiian from Maine [Mr. Blaine] 
offered a criticism on the bill. Ue suggested 
that there were two points in wbicli it 
ought to be changed. One was tJial the 
seven hundred and fifty persona who are 
.still forbuMen to hold office under tlie Gon- 
stitutioii should have free and absolute am- 
ne-ty whenever tiny declare by taking the 
oath of allegiance in open court that they 
want it ; that, like < Jod's mercy and j>erfect 
pardon, amnesty should be granted by ask- 
ing for it. It was suggested that we should 
follow the rule that we have followed hith- 
erto in all cases similarly situated. Tliat 
was tile lirst point. 

.\uuther point was suggested, that there 
is one per.son, and only one, who ought to 
be excepted from the operation of the pro- 
posed law. Now tiiat may have been wise 
or it may have been unwise, a.s a matter of 
slatesmansliip, but it was a question deserv- 
ing debate, deliberation, and answer. 

Tlie proposition of the gentleman from 
IVnn.svUaniM [Mr. Randall] is an affirma- 
tive cue, and should be supported by affirma- 
tive reasons. If we allege any reason against, 
>ve ought to be answered. Two allegations 
have been mad»< : tirst, tliat there ought to 
be an oaili of allegiance before a court ; and, 
second, that one man ought to bo excepted. 
How liave these propusilions been met? 
Ho V liave these suggestions been answered ? 
The first response v.'as a speech full of bril- 
liani witand personalities. It wa- like jok- 
ing at a funeral to joke on such an occasion. 
They have been answered, in the second 
place, by the speech of yesterday, which 
arraigns not the Kepublican party alone, but 
arraigns twenty-five millions of people, ar- 
raigns the history of the Republic for fifteen 
years, anaigns everything that isgloriousin 
its record and high and woilhy in its 
achievement. I was deeply pained tliat 
such an arraignment should have been made 
on iiuch a subject. If the gentleman had 
confined himself to a reply to the argument 
which had been offered to show why the ex- 
ception should be made, it would have been 
a response pertinent to the subject-matter in 
controversy. 

While I o<!cnpy the attention of the House. 
I shall endeavor to confine -myself to the 
(question and lo the speecli of the gentle- 
man from Georgia, [Mr. Hill.] 

Let me say in the outset that, so far as I 
am per.soually concerned, I have never voted 
against any proposition to grant amnesty to 
any human being who has asked for it at the 
bar of the House. Furthermore, I appeal to 
gentlemej) ou the other side wlio have been 



with me in this Hall many years, whether at 
any lime they have found me truculent in 
spirit, unkind in tone or feeling toward 
those who fought against us in th^^ late war. 
Twelve years ago this very month, standing 
in this place, I said this: 

"l BELIEVE A TRUCE 

could be struck today between the rank and 
file of the hostile armies now in the field. I 
believe they could meet and shake hands 
together, j<»yfiil over returning peace, each 
respecting the courage and manhood of the 
other, and each better able to live in amity 
than before the war." 

I am glad to repeat word for word wliat 
I said that day. For the purposes of this 
speech I will not even claim the whole 
ground which the Government assumed to- 
ward the late rebellion. For the sake of the 
present argument, I will view the position 
of those who took up arms against the Gov- 
ernment in 

THK LIGUT LEAST OFFKNSITK TO THEM. 

Leaviug out of sight for the moment the 
question of slavery, which evoked so much 
passion, and which was th ' producing cause 
of the late war, there weresiill two opposing 
political theories which met in conflict. 
Most of the Southern statesmen believed 
that their first obedience was due to their 
State. We believed that the allegiance of 
an American citizen was due to the National 
Government, not by the way of a State Capi- 
tal, but in a direct line from his own heart 
to the Government of the Union. Now, 
that question was submitted to the dreadful 
arbitrament of war, to the court of last re- 
sort — a court from which there is no appeal, 
and to which all other powers must bow. 
To that dread court the great question was 
carried, and there the right of a State to se- 
cede was put to rest forever. For the sake 
of peace and union I am willing to treat 
our late antagonists as I would treat liti- 
gants in other courts, who, when they have 
madn> their appeal and the final judgment is 
rendered, pay the reason^ible ciSts and bow 
to its mandates. But our question to-day 
is not that, yet is closely connected with it. 
When we liave made our arguments and the 
court has rendered judgment, it may be 
that in the course of the proceedings the 
court has used its discretion to disbar 
some of its counsellors tor malpractice, for 
unprofessional conduct. In such a case, a 
luotion may be made to restore the disbarred 
members. Applying this illustration to the 
present case, there are seven hundred and 
fi'ty people who are j et disbarred before the 
highest authority of the Republic, the Con- 
stitution itself. The proposition is to offer 
again the privileges of official station to 
these people; and we are all agreed as to 
•jvery human being of theu^ save one. 



14 



SPEECH OF HON. JAME!? A. GAREIELB. 



I do not object to Jefferson Davis because 
he was a couspicnou3 leader. Wliatever we 
may believe theologically, I do not believe 
in the doctrine of vicarious atonement in 
politics. Jefferson I )avis was no more guilty 
for taking up arms than any other man who 
went into the rebellion with equal intelli- 
gence. But this is the question: In the 
high court of war di'l he practice according 
to its well-known laws — the laws of nations? 
Did he, in appealing to war, obey the laws 
of war ; or did he so violate those laws that 
justice to those wlio suffered at his hands 
demands tijat he be not permitted to come 
back to his old privileges in the Union? 
1'hat is the whole question; audit is as plain 
and fair a question for deliberation as was 
ever d<-bated in this House. 

Now, 1 wish we could discuss it without 
any passien — without passionate thoughts, 
such as We heard yesterday. The words 
were eloquent, for the gentleman from Geor- 
gia well knows how to utter passionate 
thoughts with all the grace and eloquence 
of speech. 

What answer has been made to the allega- 
tions of the gentleman from Maine to the rea- 
sons he offered why a full amnesty should 
not be offered to Jefferson Davis? The gen- 
tleman from Georgia denies, and so also ap- 
parently did the gentleman from New York, 
[Mr Cox,] the authenticity of 

THE CHAKGES 0F"XTK0CITIES AT ANDEKS05VILLE. 

The gentleman from New York [Mr. Cox] 
spoke of the committee from whose report 
the gentleman fr( 111 Maine [Mr. Blaine] read 
as a 'immlfug committee '" The gentleman 
from Georgia [Mr. Hill] spoke of it as an 
ex parte and partisan committee — a committee 
that wrote and reported oat of its fury and 
rage. Now, Mr. Speaker, 1 am unwilling 
that this case shall turn u])on the mere au- 
thority of a committee, liowever high; but I 
want to say now, without arguing the 
merits, that whethf^r the charge was just or 
unjust, it was a charge made by the Govern- 
ment of the United States. 1 mean to plac*» 
the responsibility of the charges on the high 
ground of the authority of the Government, 
which no self-respecting man can call trivial 
and unworthy of his serious atte;itiou. 

On the 4th day of May, 1864, the Secre- 
tary of War, speaking by the authority of 
the executive (iepartraent of the National 
Government, addi'essed a communication to 
a committee of Congress, which I will read. 
It is found in a volume of reports of com- 
mittees of the first session of the Thirty- 
eighth Congress, volume 1, 1863-'64, and is 
as follows: 

War DEPARTME?fT, 

Washtngton Citt, Mop 4, 1864. 
Sir: I have the honor to submit to you a re- 

froit made to thi.s Department by" Colonel 
JotTman, Commissary General of Prisoners, in 



regard to tlieconditioii of Union soldier* who 
Imve until williln a lewdavs been ))risoners of 
war at Kichmonil, iiiiil would respectfully re- 
qu(>.it tliat vour committee immediately pro- 
ceed to Anuupolis to take testimony there 
and examine with their own eyes the condi- 
tion of those wlio have been returned from 
rebel captivity. The enormity of the crime 
committed by the rebels toward our prisoners 
for the last several months is not known or 
realized by our people, and cannot but fill 
with horror the civilized world when the facts 
are fully revealed. There appears to have 
been a deliberate system of savage and bar- 
barous treatment and starvation, the result of 
which will be that few, if any, of the prison- 
ers that have been in their hands during the 
])ast wi-nter will ever again be in a condition 
to render any service or even to enjoy life. 
Your obedient servant, 

EDWIN M. STANTOX, 
Secrclnry of War. 
Hon. B. F. Wade, Cliairman of Joint Commit- 
tee on Conduct of the War. 

On the receipt of this letter a joint com- 
mittee of the two Houses, known as the 
Committee on the Conduct of the War, was 
sent to Annapolis, to hold their sessions in 
the presence of the thousands of returned 
prisoners who had just been landed, and us 
the result of their deliberatious, and after 
taking testimony on the spot from officers 
and men who had just returned, they re- 
ported not only their opinions, but the tes- 
timony in ."ull, in the volume which 1 hold 
in my hand. That committee was composed of 

REPnBLlCANS AND DEMOCRATS, 

and its report is unanimous. The Democrats 
on the committee were among the foremost 
members af the ^^enate and House. One of 
them was Mr. Odell, of New York, a gentleman 
not now living, who was one of the best men 
that party has had on the floor of this House 
since I have been a member. Another was 
Senator Harding, of Oregon. That commit- 
tee made an elaborate report, from which I 
will read a few paragraphs: 

The evidence proves beyond all manner of 
doubt a determination on the part ol the rebel 
autlioiities, deliberately and pcrsi.'stenlly 
practiced loralongtime past, losulyect those 
of our soldiers who have been so nntojiunate 
as to fail in their hands to a system of treat- 
ment which has resulted in reducing many 
of those WHO have survJveti and been 
permitted to return to us to a con- 
(.litioii, l)Oth physically an<t mentally, 
which no language "we can use .can 
adequately descrilje. Though nearly all iho 
piitieuts now in the Naval Academy" Hospital 
at Annapolis and in tlic West Hospital in Bal- 
timore have been under tlie kindest and mo.-5t 
intelligent treatment for about three weeks 
past, and many ot them for a greater length 
of time, still they present literally the ap- 
pearance of living skeletons, many of them 
Ijeing nothing .but skin and bone; some of 
them are lUiumed for life, having I >een fro- 
zen while exposed to the inclemency of the 
winter season on Belle Isle, being compelled 
to lie oil the liare ground without tents or 
blankets, some of them without overcoats or 
even couts, with but little fire to mitigate the 
severity of the winds aiul storms to which 
they were exposed. » * » » 

It will be observ<.'d from the testimony that 
all the witnesses who testify upon that point 



SPEECH OP HON. JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



15 



state that the treatment they receirecl while 
ooiiflned at Columbia, South Carolina, Dal ton, 
Georgia, and other places, was far morv* im- 
mane than that they received at Ricliinond, 
where the authoritlvs of the so-called Confed- 
eracy were congregated, and where tlu) power 
existed, had tlio inclination not l>cen want- 
Inj;, to reform those abuses and secure to the 
prisoners they held some treatment that 
would ht'ar a public comparison to tliai ac- 
corded by our auMiorifies to tlie prisioners In 
our custody. Vour committee, tliarefore, aj"e 
constrained to say that tliev can hardly avoid 
tlie coneinslon ex]>reSvSed i)y so many of our 
r(dcas(>tl soldiers, iliat the Inhuman practices 
herein reterred to are the result of a determi- 
nation on tlie part of the rebel authorities to 
ri!iluce our soldiers in their power by j>riva- 
tion of food and clothing and by exposure to 
such a condition that tlioso who may survive 
shall never recover so as to l)e able lo rentier 
any ellectlve service in the field. 

i am not now discussing the merits of the 
charge at all, but am showing that such is, 
and for twelve years has continued to be, 
the autlioritative oilieial charge of the exec- 
utive department of the (irovernment and of 
a joint committee of the two Houses. So 
uiiicli for the responsible character of tlie 
charge. To this I should add that tliis 
oliarge is believed to be true by a great ma- 
jority of the people whom we represent on 
this rioor. 

I now inquire is this charge true? 
Tht' gentleman from tieorgia denies gen- 
erally the c^liarge that atrocities were prac- 
ticed upon our prisoners at Andersonville. 
He makes a general denial, and asserts that 
Mr. Davis did observe 

THE HOMANE RULES OF MODERN WARFARE. 

As a proof, he quotes the general order 
issued by tlie President of the Confederate 
(government under which tlie prison was 
to be established, an order providing that 
it shoitld be located on healthy ground, 
where there was an abundance of good 
water, ami trees for healthful and grate- 
ful shade. Tliat la a perfect answer so far 
as it goes. But 1 ask how that order was 
executed? To whose hands was committed 
tlie work of building the Andersonville 
prison? To the hands of (reneral Winder, 
an intimate and favorite friend of Mr. Davis. 
And who was Creneral Winder? He was a 
man of whom the Richmond Examiner used 
these words the day he took his departure 
from Richmond to assume command of the 
proposed prison: 

Thank God that Richmond is at last rid of 
old Winder. God have mercy upon those to 
whom he ha.") been senti 

He was, as the testimony in the Wirz trial 
shows, the special and intimaie friend of 
.Jefferson l>avis, the President of the Confed- 
eracy, by whom he was detailed on this busi- 
ness, and detailed with siK^h a send-off as I 
have read you from a paper of his own city 
warmly in fhe interest of the rebel cause. 

What next? How did (ieneral Winder 
execute the order after h« went there? I 



turn to the Wirz trial, and read from it only 
such authorities as the gentleman from 
fjreorgia recognizes — 

OFFICERS OF THE RKI3EL ARMY. 

The gentleman stated yesterday that there 
was nothing in this book connecting the 
head of the Confederate Government with 
the Andersonville atrocities. Before I am 
through we will see. On the 5th day of 
Janiiary, 1864, a report was made by D. T. 
Chandler, a lieutenant colonel of the Con- 
federate army. This report was offered in 
evidence in the Wirz trial, and Colonel 
Chandler was Jiimself a witness at that 
trial, and swears tliat the report is genuine. 
I quote from page 2J4: 

Anderson, January 5, 1864, 
Colonel: Having, in obedience to instruc- 
tions of th(^ ■i')tli ultimo, carefully inspected 
the prisoi\ for Kctloral prisoners of war and 
post at this place, 1 respectfully submit the 
following r<*port: 

The Fed(nal prisoners of war are confined 
within a stocltade flfleen feet high, of rt)ughiy 
hewn pinclogs abouleightinciies in diutneter, 
inserted five feet into the ground, inclosing, in- 
cluding the recent extension, an area of Ave 
liundred and forty by two hundred and sixty 
yards. A i-ailiiig round the inside of the 
stockade, and about twenty feet from it, consti- 
tutes the "dead line,'" beyond which the pris- 
oners arc not allowed to pass, and about three 
and one-fourth acres near the center of the 
inclosui'e aie so marshy as to be at prt^sent 
unlit for occupation, reducing the available 
present area to about twenty-three and one- 
half acres, which gives somewhat less Miansix 
square feet to eacli ])risoner. Even this is 
being constantly reduced by the additions to 
their niniiTifr. A small stream passing trom 
west to east through the inclosure, at about 
one hundred and fifty yards from its southern 
limit, furnishes the only vvater for washing 
accessilile to the prisoners. Some regimen of 
tlte guard, the bake>y. and The cookhouse, 
being placed on the rising grounds bordering 
the strt'am before it enters the prison, render 
the water nearly unfit foruse before it reaches 
the prisoners. ' * * * 

I). T. CHANDLER, 
Assistant Adjutant and Jn.ipector General,. 
Colonel R. fl. Chilton, Assistant Adjutant and 
Inspector General. 

Here is an official exhibit of the manner 
in which the officer detailed by Jeff. Davis 
chose the place for health, with "running wa- 
ter, and agreeable shade." He chose a piece 
of forest-ground that had a miasmatic marsh 
in the heart of it and a small stream run- 
ning through it; but the troops stationed 
outside of the stockade were allowed to de- 
file its pure water before it could reach the 
stockade; and then, as if in the very refine- 
ment of cruelty, as if to make a mockery of 
the order quoted by the gentleman from 
Georgia, he detailed men 

TO CPT DOWN EVERY TREE AND SHRUB 

in the inclosure, leaving not a green leaf 
to show where the forest had been. And 
subsequently, when the burning sun of 
July was pouring down its lifry heat upon 
the heads of these men, with but six 
square feet of ground to a man, a piteous 



16 



SPEECH OF HON. JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



petition was made by the prisoners to Win- 
der to allow these poor men to be detailed to 
go outside, under guard, and cut pine from 
the forest to make arbors under which they 
could shelter themselves, and they were 
answered with all the loathsome brutality of 
malignant hate, that they should have no 
bush to shelter them; and thus, under the 
fierce rays of the southern sun, they miser- 
ably perished. 

These last statements are made on the 
authority of Ambrose Spencer, a planter of 
Georgia, who resided within five miles of 
Andersonville. I quote from his testimony, 
(Wirz's tiial, p. 359:) 

Between the 1st and 15th of Decemberj 18C3, 
1 went up to Andersonville witliW. S. ' inder 
and four oi- live otiier geutlemeu, out of curi- 
osity, to see liow the prison was to bo laid out. 
* * * 1 aslvod him if he was going to 
erect barracks or shelter of any kind, lie re- 
plied that he was not; that the damned Yan- 
kees who wouUl be put iu there would have 
no need of llioin. 1 asked him why he was 
cutting down all the trees, and suggested tliat 
they wouUl prove a shelter to tlie prisoners, 
froiu tiie Ileal of the sun, at least, lit; made 
this reply, or tsomething simiUirto it: "Ttiat 
is just what lam going to do; 1 am going to 
buUd a pen here that will kill more daniiied 
Yankees ihan can be destroyed in the fiont." 
Those are very nearly his words, orequivaleut 
to them. 

So much for the execution of the Presi- 
dent's order to locate the prison. 

But 1 am not yet done with the testimony 
of Colonel Chandler. A subsequent report 
was made by him in the month of August. 
He went back and re examined the horrors 
of that pen, and as the result of his examin- 
ation be made a report, from which I quote 
the last few sentences, (VVirz's trial, p. 227:) 
Andkrsonvillk, August 5, 18t>i. 
Colonel: * » » 

My duty requires me respectfully to recom- 
lueild a change iu the officer iu the comuiund 
of the post, iirigadier General J. 11. Winder, 
and tlie substituuion in liis place of some on » 
who unites boili energy and good judgment 
with some feeling of humanity and cousidcra- 
ti( n for the welfare and comfort (so far as is 
consistent with theirsafe-kceping) ofthe vast 
number of unfortunates piacetl under his con- 
trol; souie one who at least will nota<lvoeatedc- 
libei'ately and in cold blood the propriety of 
leaving them in their present condition until 
their number has been sufficiently reduced by 
deiith to makefile present arrangement suf- 
fice for their accommodation; who will not 
consiiler it a matter of selt-laudation and 
boasting that he has never been inside of the 
stockade, a place the horrors of which it is 
ditHcult to describe, and which is a disgrace 
to civilization, the conilition of which he 
might, by tlie exercise of a little energy and 
judgment, even with the limited means at his 
command, have consideraVily improved. 

D. T.'CHANDLKR, 
Ass-iHant Adjutant and Inspector General. 
(jOlonel 11. 11. CuiLTOJ*, Assistant Adjutant and 
^Inspector (Jeneral C. S. A., Richmond, Vir- 
ginia. 

Mr. HALE. What is the date of that 
report ? 

Mr. GARFIELD. August 5, 1864. 



Mr. HALE. How long after that was 
Winder retained there in command f 

Mr. GARFIELD. I will come to that in a 
moment. 

Now, what do honorable gentlemen sup- 
pose would naturally be done with such a 
report as that ? Remember that Colonel 
Chandler was a witness before the court 
that tried Wirz and reaffirmed every word 
of this report. If he is living I would make 
a pilgrimage to see him and thank hini for 

THE HUMANITY AXD TEiVPERNESS 

with which he treated my unfortunate com- 
rades. So anxious was he that the great crime 
of Winder should be rebuked that he went to 
Richmond, and in person delivered his report 
to the Secretary of War, a member, of course, 
of the cabinet of Jeflerson Davis. If I am 
not correct In this I believe there is a mem- 
ber of that cabinet now on this floor who 
can correct me. Of course, being a soldier, 
Colonel Chandler first delivered his report to 
the adjutant general, and that officer, Gen- 
eral Cooper, on the ISth of August, 1864, 
wrote upon the back of the report these 
words : 

Adjutant and Inspector Gsneral's Office, 

Auyvst 18, 1864. 

Respectfully submitted to the secretary of 
war. The condition of the prison at Ander- 
sonville is a reproach to us as a nation. The 
engineer and ordnunce departments were 
applied to, and authorized their issue, and I 
so tolegraphed General Winder. Colonel 
Chandler's recommendations are coincided in. 

By order of General Cooper. 

It. II. CIIILTOX, 

Assistant Adjutant and Inspector General. 

Not content with that indorsement. Colo- 
nel Chandler went to the oflice of the secre- 
tary of war himself; but, the secr-tary be- 
ing absent at the moment, the report was 
delivered to the assistant secretary of war, 
.1. A. Campbell, wlio wrote below General 
Cooper's indorsement these words : 

These reports show a condition of things at 
Andersonville wiiich calls very loudly for the 
interposition ofthe departmeiit, in order that 
a change be made. 

J. A. CAMPBELL, 
Assistant Hecrelary of War. 

Mr. REAGAN. Does not the gentleman 
know that the adjutant general could only 
have made ^uch an order by direction of 
the president ? 

Mr. GARFIELD. I do not know what the 
habit was iu the confederacy. It is not so in 
this Government. 

Mr. REAGAN. The gentleman will allow 
me to say that all persons familiar with the 
business of that office know that the adju- 
tant general executes direct orders made by 
the president, but has not himself authority 
to make such orders. 

Mr. GARFIELD. That may have been the 
rule in the Confederate government; but it 
was never the rule here. The Adjutant Gen- 
eral of o\xr Arnty signs no order except by or- 



8P IBCH OF BON. JAMES A. QAHITIELD. 



17 



der of the Secretary of War. The Adjutant 
General is the clerk of the Secretary of 
War, and the Secretary of War is in turn 
the clerk of the President. But the gentle- 
man from Texas [Mk Reagan] will soon see 
that he cannot defend Davis by the indorse- 
ment of General Cooper. The report did not 
stop with the adjutant general. It was car- 
ried up higher and nearer to Davis. It was 
delivered to Assistant Secretary Campbell, 
who wrote the indorsement I have just 
read. The report was lodged with the de- 
partment of war, whose chief was one of the 
confidential advisers of Mr. Davis — a mem- 
ber of his official family. What was done 
with it t The record shows, Mr. Speaker, 
that .a few days thereafter an order was 
made in reference to General Winder. To 
what effect ? Promoting him ! Adding to 
his power 

IN THE FIELD OF HIS INFAMY ! 

He was made commissary-general of all the 
prisons and prisoners throughout the con- 
federacy. That was the answer that came as 
the result of this humane report of Colonel 
(handler; and that new appointment of 
W inder came from Mr. Seddons, the Confedr 
erate secretary of war. 

A Member. By order of the President. 

Mr. GARFIELD. Of course all appoint- 
ments were made by the President, for the 
gentleman from Georgia says that they car- 
ried our Constitution with them and hugged 
it to their bosoms. But tbat is not all. 
The testimony of the Wirz trial shows that 
at one time the secretary of war himself be- 
came shocked at the brutality of Winder, 
and, in a moment of indignation, relieved 
him from command. For authority upon 
this subject I refer to the testimony of Cash- 
myer, a detective of Winder's, who was 
a witness before the Wirz court. That officer 
testified that when Mr. Seddons, Secretary of 
War, wrote the order relieving Winder, the 
latter walked over with it to .Jefferson Davis, 
who immediately wrote on the back of it, 
"This is entirely unnecessary and uncalled 
for." Winder appears to have retained the 
confidence and approval of Davis to the end, 
and continued on duty until the merciful 
providence of God struck him dead in his 
tent in the preseijf e of the witness who gave 
this testimony. 

Now, who will deny that in the forum of 
law we do trace the responsibility for these 
atrocities to the man whose name is before 
us to be relieved of all his political disabili- 
ties f If not, let gentlemen show it. Wipe 
out the charge, and I will be the first man 
here to vote to relieve him of his disabilities. 

Winder wafs allowed to go on. What did 
he do ? I will only give results, not details. 
I will not harrow my own soul by the revi- 
val of those horrible details. There is a 



group of facts in military history well worth* 
knowing which will illustrate the poi)'*. Jam 
discussing. The great Napoleon did some 
fighting in his time, as did his great sutago- 
nist, the Iron Duke. In 1809 was fought the 
battle of Talavera, in "1811 the battle >>f Al- 
buera, in 1812 the battle of Salamanca, in 
1813, Vittoria, in 1816 the battles of Lgny, 
Quartre Bras, Waterloo, Wavre, and New 
Orleans, and in 1854 the battles of tht Cri- 
mea. The number of men in the English 
army who fell in battle or who were killed 
or died of wounds received in these battles 
amounted in the aggregate to rj,928. But 
this Major-General Winder, 

WITHIN HIS HORIBLE ARENA OF DEATH, 

from April, 1864, to April, 1865, tumbled 
into the trenches of Andersonville the dead 
bodies of 12,644 prisoners — only two hun- 
dred and eighty-four less than all the Eng- 
lishmen who fell in or died of wounds re- 
ceived in the great battles I have named. 

Now, Mr. Speaker, I have simply given 
these results. Percentages pale and fade 
away in the presence of such horrible facts. 

THE EEBEL PRISONERS AT KLMIRA. 

And the genth'man from Georgia denies 
the charge of atrocities at Andersonville 
and charges us with greater ones. I will 
give his words as they are qitoted in the 
morning papers: 

When the gentleman from Maine speaks 
again let him afld that the atrocities of An- 
dersonville do not begin to compare with the 
atrocities of Elmira, of Fort Uou^his, or of 
Fort Delaware, and of all the atrocities, both 
at ^Nndersonvllle and Elralra, the Confederate 
government stands acquitted from all respon- 
slbility and blame. 

I stand in the presence o/ that statement 
with an. amazement that I am utterly incap- 
able of expressing. I look upon the serene 
and manly face of the gentleman who ut- 
tered it and I wonder what influence of the 
supernal or nether gods could have touched 
him with madness for the moment and led 
him to make that dreadful statement. I 
pause; and I ask the three Democrats on this 
floor who happen to represent the districts 
where are located the three places named, if 
there be one of them who does not know that 
this charge is fearfully and awfully untrue. 
[A pause.] Their silence answers me. 
They are strangers to me, but I know they 
will repel the charge with all the energy of 
their manhood. 

Mr. PLATT. I hold in my hand a tele- 
graphic communication from 

GENERAL B. F. TRAl T, 

late commandant of the military post of 
Elmira, and I beg permission to read that 
communication. 

Mr. GARFIELD. I will yield for that 
purpose. 

Mr. PLATT. The communication la ag 
follows: 



18 



SPEECH OF HON. JAMES A. GAKFTEI.I). 



Brookltn, Ntsw Tobk, January 12, 1876. 
To Don. T. C. Platt, 

House 0/ Representativet, Washington, 

District of tolumbia: 
The facts lustlfy your denial of cruelty, lii- 
humaalty, "or neglect in the treatment of 
prison ers at F''*Ura. There was no aufferlng 
there wbich Is uot inseparable from a military 
prison. First, there was no dea'1-llne. No 
prisoner was ever Kbot for attempting to es- 
cape. Second, the food was ample ami of the 
hest quality. Thousands of dollars were ex- 
pended In the purchase of vegetables, in addi- 
tion to the .'irmy ration. No congres.'^man In 
Washington eats better bread than was given 
dally to the prisoners. Thebeef was good, and 
of the same quality and quantity as that dis- 
tributed to oar own soldiers giiarillng the 
camp. Third, the dead were not buried In 
trenches, but the remains were placed in neat 
coffins and buried in separate graves, with a 
head-board bearing the name, company, and 
regiment, and time of death, and all were 
buried In the public cemetery at Klmira. 
Fourth, there was no better supplied military 
hospital in the United States than the hos- 
pital In the prison -^amp. Fifth, all the pris- 
oners were comfortiibly ((uartered in new 
wooden barracks, built expressly for them. 
From the time I took command, in Septem- 
iK-r, all the saw-mills in the vicinity of Elmira 
were kept constantly runnins; to supplv lum- 
ber for buildings, ' Ac. The barracks for 
prisoners were first built, and In the extreme 
cold weather of winter the prisoners were all 
in barracks, while the soldiers guarding them 
were still in tents. I was criticised for this in 
the Army and Navy Journal. 1 think it was, 
at the time, by an officer of our Army. Sixth, 
the camp and all the buildings were well 

goliced, and kept scrupulously clean, 
evcnth. the mortality which prevailed was 
not owing to neglect or want of sufficient sup- 
plies or medical attention, but to other and 
quite dilferent causes. 

n. F. TRACY. 
Ijate Commnndant Military Post Union. 
Mr. WALKER, of New York. Mr. Speaker, 
as the member from the district in which El- 
ipira Depot is located. I take pleasure in in- 
dorsing every word of Colonel Tracy's dis- 
patch. I was almost daily at Elmira dur- 
ing the war, and I know that Confederate 
prisoners 

HAD THB BA.ME CARK AND TREATMENT 

that the Union soldiera had, and I never 
heard a complaint. [Qreat applause.] 

Mr. GARFIELD. Mr. Speaker, the light- 
ning is oar witness. From all quarter^ of 
the Republic denials 5we pouring in upon 
as. Since I came to the House this morn- 
ing, I have received the following dispatch 
from an honored soldier of Ohio, which tells 
its own story:' 

CLKVET.AK D. Ohio. January 12, 1876—10.33 a. m. 
To Qknbrai, Garti n.D, 

Hoiitf, of RepresentaHves: 

By authority of Secretary of War I ftirntshed 
15.0OO rebel prfscoers at Elmira with the same 
rations — cotTee, tobacco, coal, wood, clothing, 
barrackB, medical attendance — as^ were given 
to our own soldiers. The dead were decently 
burled in Eimlra cemetery. All this can be 
proved b> Democrats of t hat citv. 

General J. j'. KLWBLL. 

Mr. HILL. By permission of the g^'Utle- 
mau from Ohio, I desire to say that thore 



was no purpose on ray part by any of my 
remarks on yesterday to charge inhumanity 
upon anybody at Elmira or anywhere else, 
1 only read the evidence from official sources 
as I understood it. 

Mr. BLAINE. A letter in a newspaper. 

Mr. HILL. Let me got through, if you 
please. I^o not be uneasy. Keep quiet, and 
I will not- hurt you. [Laughter.] 

Mr. MacDOUQALL. That is what you 
told us in 1861. 

Mr. HILL. I simply sSLy that I was read- 
ing the evidence of cruelties, in the 
language of that letter, "inseparable from 
prison life." Then I read of the small-pox 
epidemic at Elmira and its character. But 
the remark which the gentleman is now com- 
menting on was not connected with any 
charge of inhtimanity upon any person in 
the world. I wish it distinctly understood 
that I meant to charge inhumanity upon no- 
body. I was simply speaking of those hor- 
rors that are inseparable from all prison life; 
and I wound up my statement by saying 
that the official reports of Secretary Stanton, 
on the 19th of .July. 18(36, after the war was 
over, gave the relative mortality of prisoners 
in Federal hands and prisoners in Confeder- 
ate hands, and that the mortality of Con- 
federate prisoners in northern prisons was 
12 per cent., while the mortality of Federal 
prisoners in Confederate hands was less than 
9 per cent. Now I simply said that judging 
by that test there was more atrocity (if you 
please to call it so) — I meant, of course, mor- 
tality — in the prisons of the North than in 
those of the South. Let the gentleman take 
the benefit of that statementi I simply re- 
ferred to the report of Secretary Stanton. 

Mr. BAKER, of Indiana. Does the gentle- 
man mean to charge that the amount of mor- 
tality in Northern prisons was owing to any 
cruelty or neglect of the Federal officers ? 

Mr. HILL. I do not undertake to say to 
what special cause the mortality on either 
side was attributable I say it was attribu- 
table to those horrors inseparable from prison 
life everywhere; and I simply entered my 
protest against gentlemen seeking to stir 
up those old past horrors on either side to 
keep alive a strife that ought to be buried. 
That is all. [Applause.]* 

Mr. GAR.F1ELD. I am glad to hear what 
the gentleman says, and to giveitinore force 
by contrast I quote again the words he used 
as reported in the newspapers this morning : 
"When the gentleman from Maine addresses 
thellouse again let hlraadd to it thatthe atro- 
cities of AndersonvDlo do not begin to com- 
pare with the atrocities of Elmira, of Fort 
Douglas, or of Fort Delaware : and of all the 
atrocities, both at Andcrsonville and Elmira, 
the Confederate government ."tantls acquitted 
from all rpspouslblllty and blame. 

I refer to it to show why I could not 

Mr. HILL. I have no doubt the gentle- 



SPEECH OF HON. JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



19 



man's motive is good ; but he will permit 
me to remind him that what he has just read 
was sai>-i by me after reading Secretary 
Stanton's report; and of course, while I men- 
tioned prison places at the North I did not 
mean to charge inhumanity upon any one as 
a class. 

Mr. GARFIELD. But let me say another 
word to close this branch of the subject. 
The only authority introduced to prove the 
pretended atrocity at Elmira was an anony- 
mous letter printed in the New York World. 
The Roman roldiers who watched at the sep- 
ulchre uf the Saviour of mankind attempted 
to disprove his resurrection by testifying to 
what happened while they were asleep. Bad 
as this testimony was, it was not anonymous ; 
but in ■ this case the testimony was 
that of a shadow— an initial — nobody. 
Stat no/tnnis umbra. What the substance 
was we know not. But even as to this 

AKONYMOPS ANUTHOKITY, 

it would have been well for the cause of 
justice if the gentleman had been kind enough 
to quote it all. I read, I believe, from the very 
book from whi^h the gentleman quoted — The 
Life of Davis — a sentence omitted by him, but 
which I hope be will have printed in his 
speech. It is this : 

The facts demonstrate that in as healthy a 
location as there is in Xew York, with every 
remedial appliance iu abundance, with no 
epidemic, ifec. 

So that even this anonymous witness tes- 
tifies that we planted our Elmira prison in as 
healthy a place as there was in the State of 
New York. It ought to be added that the 
small-pox broke out in that prison very soon 
after the (late of this letter; and the mortal- 
ity ihat followed was very much greater than 
in any other pri.son in the North. 

How we have kept alive our vindictiveness 
will be seen by the fact that Congress, at its 
last session or the session before last, passed 
a law making the rebel cemetery at Elmira 
a part of the national-cemetery system ; and 
to-day, this malignant Administration, this 
ferocious Constitution-hating and South-hat- 
ing Administration is paying an officer for 
tenderly caring for the inclosuro that holds 
the remains of these outraged soldiers ! 

Mr. MacDOUGALL. And a Union soldier. 
Captain Fitch, is building at his own ex- 
pense a monument at Elmira to the Confede- 
rate dead. 

Mr. GARFIELD. I did not know that. 
At another place, Finn's P(jjml, in Virginia, 
we have within the past few months em- 
braced another cemetery of rebel soldiers 
under the law and protection of our national 
cemetery system. All this out of the depths 
of our wrath and hatred for our Southern 
brethren 1 

Mr. IllLL. Will the gentleman allow me 
te say a word on that point f 



Mr. GARFIELD. Certainly. 

Mr. HILL. In response to what the gen- 
tleman has said, I desire to state as a fact 
what I personally know, th.at on the last oc- 
casion of decorating soldiers' graves in the 
South, our people, uniting with Northern 
soldiers there, decorated in harmonious ac- 
cord the graves of the fallen Federals and 
the graves of the fallen Confederates. It is 
because of this glorious feeling that is being 
awakened in the country that 1 protest 
against the revival of these horrors about 
any prison. 

Mr. GARFIELD. So do I. Who brought 
it here? [Cries from the Democratic side 
of the House, Blaihk 1 BlaikeI] W^i will 
see a.s to that. I wish this same fraternal 
feeling could come out of the graveyard, and 
display itself toward the thirty or forty 
maimed Union soldiers who were on duty 
around this Capitol, but who have been dis- 
placed by an equal number of 

SOLDIKKS ON THE OTHBB 8IDK. 

[Applause.] 

There was another point which the gentle- 
man made which I am frank to say I am not 
now able to answer. 

Mr. REAGAN. Mr. Speaker, I wish to 
call attention (with the permission of the gen- 
tleman from Ohio) to the exact state of facts 
in reference to the allegation just made by 
him. This is not the first time the statement 
has been made that there iiave been thirty or 
forty crippled Federal soldiers removed from 
oike under this House and their places filled 
by Confederate soldiers. I was shown yes- 
terday morning by the Doorkeeper of the 
House (and the information is as accessible 
to the gentleman from Ohio and all others as 
to mysrlf) a roll showing there were eighteen 
Federal soldiers appointed by the Doorkeep- 
er of the House during the last Congress, 
while twenty-four Federal soldiers have 
been appointed by the Doorkeeper of the 
present Congress; while at the same time 
the aggregate number of appointments al- 
lowed to the Doorkeeper of the House of the 
last Congress was very much larger than 
that allowed to the Doorkeeper of the present 
Congress. Besides that, more than three- 
fourths of those appointed by the present 
Doorkeeper have taken what is popularly 
denominated as the iron-clad oath. 

Mr. GARFIELD. I should be glad to.lmow 
that the gentleman from Texas is correct. 

Mr. SOUTHARD. The gentleman trom 
Texas has referred to a list which I have bere 
before me. 

Mr. GARFIELD. My time is fast running 
out, and I do not want it all taken up by 
these explanations; but I will hear my col- 
league. 

The SPEAKER, Does the gentleman from 
Ohio yieldf 



20 



SPKECH OF HOW. JAMBS A. GARFIELDo 



Mr. GARFIELD. 1 yield to my colleague. 

Mr. RANDALL. Your time will he ex- 
tended. 

Mr. SOUTHARD. The statement which 
I hare before me, and to which the gentle- 
man from Texas referred, is that of the one 
hundred and fifty-three appointments made 
oj the Doorkeeper in the last House of Rep- 
resentatives, there were eighteen Union sol- 
diers; while, out of the eighty-five appoint- 
ments allowed to the Doorkeeper of the 
present House, twenty-six Union soldiers 
have been appointed. [Applause.] 

The SPEAKER. These demonstrations are 
entirely out of order. 

Mr. JONES, of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, 
I rise to a point of order. 

The SPEAKER. The gentleman will state 
it. 

Mr. JONES, of Kentucky. My point is 
this: 1 do not know whether it is a point of 
order or not, but I do request that the 
Speaker will in the most determined man- 
ner suppress any applause in this House. I 
regret this debate, and especially these de- 
tails; but this applause is unbecoming the 
gravity of the question, however unfortu- 
nately it may have come up here; and I do 
request that on this side of the House there 
shall be no applause of any member who 
speaks for the South, or any demonstration 
against any one speaking on that side of the 
House. I hope courtesy and decorum will 
be observed. [Cries of "Good!" "GoodI"] 
It is unbecoming the House, and unbecom- 
ing the country, and I hope it wiU be 
stopped. 

The SPEAKER. The suggestion of the 
gentleman from Kentucky is well made. 
These things are not in order, and the Chair 
earnestly requetsts the House will set an 
example to those outside of the bar and in 
the galleries by stopping all such demonstra- 
tions. And the Chair takes occasiou to say 
to the galleries that if these things are con- 
tinued it will be his duty to have them 
cleared. 

Mr. GARFIELD. I regret as much as any 
one the discussion of this question. I did 
not intend to refer to it at all. I hope what 
my colleague has presented as a statistical 
table will turn out to be correct. I shall be 
glad if it does. I know he thinks it is cor- 
rect. However, there has been put into my 
hand a statement about a single office of the 
House in which the names of the old and 
new rolls are given. I speak of the post- 
office of the House, in which it is claimed 
that while nine Union soldiers were on the 
rolls during the last year, 

NINE CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS 

have replaced them on the roll of this 
year; and tlxat of the thirteen employes 
there, but two took the oath that thej had 



not borne arms against the Qovernmeni. 
If the statement be corie(!i which 1 have 
had put into my hands, it would seom to 
throw some shadow of doubt on what wt 
have ju.-t heaid. But let both statements 
go in together. 

This is the list handed to me: 

PCST-OPPICB OP THK HOUSE. 

The old force.— Normau Crane, \'ermont; A. 
M. I^egg, New York, two yen is in Union Army; 
F. A. Warden, Massachusetts, four years in 
Union Army and pertaanently disabled at 
Winchester; J. H. Paine, Ohio, was in Union 
Army; O.M. Thomas, Iowa: It. V. '<lsliop, Mich- 
igan, lost au arm In the Union Army; R. S. 
McMichael, Wisconsin, nearly lost his sight In 
the Union Army; D. i^. Bradley, Wisconsin, 
three vears in Union Army; J. H. Lytic, New 
Yorlc; \V. li. Sessions, New" York; J. L). Severn, 
PennsyWania; U. F. IJishop, Pennsylvania; W. 
Tudge, Uislrici of Goluiubia; Cripti Palmoni, 
District of Columbia. 

The now force. — George W. Rock, Virginia, 
in Confederate army; Henry Coo.k, Virginia, in 
Confederate army; Richard" Allen, Virginia; S. 
W. Kennedy, Virginia, in Confederuto array; 
A. W. C. Nowlin, Virgi)iia. in Confederate army; 
Edwartl C. Sloss, Virginia; W. H. Robinson, 
Virginia, in Confederate army; J. K. Fishar, 



Virginia, in Confederate army; P. 8. Goodsil, 
W. B. Lowcry, Virginia, in Confederate army; 
Joseph M. Taylor, Edwin Esle, New York; 



Thomas Kirby, Connecticut, in Union Army. 
Mr. Speaker, I was about to refer to an- 
other point made by the gentleman from 
Georgia in his statement of the number of 
prisoners taken by us and taken by them 
and the. relative number of deaths. I have 
this morning received from the Surgeon 
General references to all the pages of official 
reports on that subject, but I have not been 
able, in the hurried moments of the session 
since I arrived here, to examine the figures. 
The gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Borchard] 
has made up a part of the statement which 
I am now able to present. That statement 
shows that during the war 

WK TOOK 476,169 PRISONERS, 

while on the other side they took 188,145 
prisoners from us. 

This is a statement to which the Surgeon 
General referred me in a note received since 
I took my seat in the House this morning, 
and is in a printed report on the treatment 
of prisoners of war by the rebel authorities, 
third session Fortieth Congress, page 228, 
which gentlemen can examine at their leis- 
ure. 

It ought to bt* added in this connection 
that the conscription laws of the Confederate 
congress forced all able-bodied citizens be- 
tween the ages of seventeen and fifty into 
the service, wbile our laws limited the con- 
scription to the usual military ages. This, 
of coitrse, put into their army a large num- 
ber of immature boys and broken-down old 
men, among whom the mortality would nat- 
urally be greater than in an army made up 
of men of the ordinary ages. 

I turn now to another point. The gentle- 



S?EECH OF HON. JAMES A. (JARFIELD. 



ii 



man mak^s another answer concerning these 
atrocities. 

The SPEAKER. Ths gentleman's hour 
has expired. 

Mr. HILL. I hope the gentleman from 
Ohio will be permitted to go on. 

There being no objection, Mr. Gabfibld's 
time was extended indefiuitelj. 

Mr. GARFIELD. I am very grateful for 
this courtesy and will not abuse it. 

The gentleman from Georgia makes an- 
other answer, that whatever was suflFered by 
th«» prisoners for at least a considerable por- 
tion of the time was in consequence of our 

KEFUSAL TO MAKE AN KXCHANGK OF FHISONERS, 

because we would not give them their fresh 
men in our prisons, and take our shadows 
and skeletons that came back from theirs. 

This is a part, and an important part, of a 
great history, which mu^t not be omitted in 
this debate; and I will very briefly refer to its 
leading points. There was much trouble abjut 
the exchange of prisoners between the two 
belligerents; first, because for a long time 
we did not acknowledge the Confederates as 
belligerents. We hoped under the ninety 
days theory of Mr. Seward to get through 
without their recognition, but that hope 
failed. Our enemies were as gallant a peo- 
ple as ever drew the sword, and the fulfill- 
ment of that hope was delayed for mouths 
and ror years. But finally an arrangement 
was made under which it was possible to 
make a cartel for the exchange of prisoners; 
and on the '22d of July, 1862, a cartel was 
agreed upon between the belligerents, which 
provided that within ten days after a pris- 
oner was taken he should be paroled aud 
sent home; and whenever it was announced 
by either side that a certain number was re- 
lieved from the parole a corresponding num- 
ber should be released from ihe other side, 
and in that way the exchange was effected. 

There were two points of delivery of pris- 
oners. One was at Vicksburg. Another 
was at a point near Dutch Gap, in Virginia. 
And the exchange went on for some time 
until a series of events occurred which in- 
terrupted it. To those events I desire to 
call attention for a moment. The first in or- 
der of time was a proposition which was 
read before the House yesterday, and which 
I incorporate here in my remarks, not for 
the sake of making any personal point, but 
to preserve the continuity ot the history. 

kill's black FLAG RESOLUTION. 

In Octobor, 1862, a resolution was intro- 
duced into (he Confederate Senate by Sen- 
ator Hill, of Georgia — 

That every person pretending to be a, eol- 
(iler or officer of the United States who shall 
be captured on the soil of tbe Coufederato 
States iifter the first of January, lS(i3, shall be 
presuaied to liave entered the territory of 
itae Cou federate States with iBiteBt to excite 



Insurrection and to abet murder, and that un- 
less satisfactory proof be adduced to the con- 
trary before the military court before which 
his trial shall be had he shall sutTer death. 

That was the first step in the complication 
in regard to the exchange of prisoners of 
war. That resolution appears to have borne 
early fruits. 

On the 22d day of December, 1862, Jeffer- 
son Davis, the man for whom amnesty is now 
being asked, issued a proclamation, a copy 
of which I hold in my hand. I read two 
paragraphs: 

First. That all commissioned oftlcers In the 
command of said Benjamin F. Butler be de- 
Glared not entitled to be considered as sol- 
diers engaged In honorable warfare, but as 
robbers and criminals deserving death; and 
that they, and each of them be, whenever 
captured, reserved for execution. 

Mr. HILL. A reason is stated for that. 

Mr. GARFIELD. The reason is in the 
preamble. I am not discussing the reasons 
for this extraordinary proclamation, but its 
effects upon the exchange of prisoners. 

Third. That all negro slaves captured In 
arms be at once ilelivered over to tlie execu- 
tive autliorltles of the respective Stales to 
which theybelonf?, to be tlealt with according 
to the laws of saiil Stales. 

Fourth. That the like orders be executed In 
all cases with respect to all commissioned 
ofhcers of the United Slates when found .-terv- 
Ing in company with said slaves in insurrec- 
tion against the authorities of the ditTorent 
States of this Confederacy. 

Two great questions were thus raised: first, 
that a certain class of officers, merely be 
cause they served under General Butler, 
should be declared not entitled to the rights 
of prisoners of war, but should be put to 
death when taken. These men were serv- 
ing, not Benjamin V. Butler, but the Union. 
They did not choose him as their general. 
They wei'e assigned to him ; and by this 
proclamation that assignment 

CONSIGNED THEM TO DEATH 

at the hands of their captors. But th« 
second question was still more important. 
It was an order that all men who had 
been slaves and had enlisted under the 
flag of the Union should be denied all the 
rights of soldiers, and when captured should 
be dealt with as runaway slaves under the 
laws of the States where they formerly be- 
longed, and that commissioned officers who 
commanded them were to be denied tha 
rights aud privileges of prisoners of war. 
The decision of the Union people every- 
where was that, great as was the suffering 
of our poor soldiers at Andersonville and 
elsewhere, we would never make an ex- 
change of prisoners until the manhood and 
the rights of our colored soldiers were ac- 
knowledged by the belligerent power. And 
for long weary months we stood upon that 
issue, and most of the suffering occurred 
while we waited for that act of juatic* to bo 
done on the other nide. 



22 



SPEECH OP HON. JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



To enforce this proclamation of Mr. Davis 
a law was passed on the 1st of May, 1863, by 
the Confederate congress, reported, doubt- 
less, from the <judiciary committee by the 
gentleman who spoke yesterday, and in that 
law the principles of the proclamation I have 
just read were embodied and expanded. 
Section 4 of the law reads as follows: 

Seo. 4. That every white person, being a 
commissioned officer or acting as such, wlio- 
durlng the present war, snail command 
negroes or mulattoes In arms against the Con, 
federate States, or who shall arm, train, or- 
ganize, or prepare negroes or mulattoes for 
military service against the Confederate 
States or who shall voluntarily aid negroes 
OS" mulattoes In any military enterprise, at- 
tack, or conflict in such service, shall be 
deemed as Inciting servile Insurrection, and 
shall, If captured, he put to death or be otlier- 
wise punished, at the discretion of the court. 

Sbo. 5. Every jierson, being a commissioned 
officer or acting as such in the service of the 
enemy, who Bliall during the pi-esent war ex- 
cite, attempt to excite, or cause to be excited, 
a servile Insurrection, or who shall Incite or 
cause to be Incited a slave to rebel, shall, If 
captured, be put to death or be otherwise 
punished, at the discretion of the court. 

Sec. 7. Ail negroes and mulattoes who shall 
be engaged In war or be taken in arms against 
the Confederate States, or shall give aid or 
comfort to the enemies of the Confederate 
States, shall, when captured In the Confeder- 
Rtto States, be delivered to the authorities of 
the State or States in which they shall be cap- 
tured, to be dealt with according to the pres- 
ent or future laws of such State or States. 

Approved May 1, 1863. 

Now, Mr. Spe^iker, I am here to say that 
this position taken by the head of the Con- 
federacy, indorsed by his congress and car- 
ried into execution by his officers, was the 
great primal trouble in all this business of 
the. exchange of prisoners. There were 
minor tronblfts, such as claims by both sides 
that paroles had been violated. I think 
General Halleck reported that a whole divi- 
sion of four brigades, Stevenson's division, 
which had not been properly exchanged, 
fought us at Lookout Mountain; but that 
may have been a mistake. It was one of 
the points in controversy. But the central 
question was that of the Government of the 
United States having committed itself to the 
doctrine that 

THE NEGKO WA.8 A MAN AND NOT A CHATTEL, 

and that being a man he had a right to 
help us in fighting for the Union, and be- 
ing a soldier we would perish rather than 
that he should not be treated as a soldier. 

To show that I am not speaking at ran- 
dona I will read from a report which I hold 
in my hand, a report of the Secretary of 
War on the difficulty of the exchange of pris- 
oners. This paper is dated August 24, 1804. 
I think it is a misprint for 1863, from what 
surrounds it; but no matter as to that. It 
was in August General Meredith reported: 

To my demand "that all officers command- 
ing uegro troops, and negro troops themselves, 
should be treated as other prisoners of war, 



and be exchanged as such," Mr. Ould declined 
acceding, remarking that they (the rebels) 
would "die in the last ditch" before giving up 
the right to send slaves back to slavery as 
property recaptured. 

»♦*»*»♦ 

I am, general, very respectfully, your obedi- 
ent servant, 

S. A. MEREDITH, 
Brisfadier- General and Cotnmis.noner for Ex- 
change. 
Major-General E. A. Hitchcock, Cornmigsioner 
/or Exchange 0/ Prisoners, Washington,!). O. 

Thus it appears that in the negotiation, as 
late as the month of August, 1863, the re- 
fusal of the rebel authorities to treat the 
negro as a man and a soldier, prevented the 
exchange of prisoners. 

One other point in that connection and I 
will leave this subject. I have here a let- 
ter, dated March 17, 1863, written by Robert 
Ould and addressed to that man of "bad 
Hmineuce," General Winder, in which Mr. 
Ould, speaking of his arrangement for the 
exchange of prisoners, says: 

The arrangements that I have made work 
largely in our favor. We gel rid of a set of 
miserable wretches and receive some o/ che best 
material lever saw. 

Now in that single line, in a communica- 
tion between two men. not par nobile fratrum 
but par turpe diaholorum, is proof that the 
object of this outrageous treatment at An- 
dersonville was to make our men so that 
their exchange would be valueless to us, and 
it throws light upon the charge about our 
treatment of prisoners held in the North. 

Now, Mr. Speaker, I return from all this 
to the direct discussion bearing immediately 
upon Jefferson Davis. It seems to me incon- 
trovertible that the records I have adduced 
lay at his door the charge of being himself 
the author, the conscious author, through 
his own appointed iustrumeut, of the terrible 
work at Andersonville, for which the Ameri- 
can people still hold him unfit to be ad- 
mitted amonjf the legislators of this nation. 

Before I leave that subject let me say 
another word or another point. I see around 
me here a large number of gentlemen who 
did not hesitate to take the oath of allegi- 
ance to the Government of the United States, 
who did not hesitate to ask to be relieved 
of their political disabilities, and I ask if any 
one of them, in the years they have served 
here with us, has been ever taunted with 
the fact that he has been thus relieved of 
disabilities at his own request^ Can any 
one of them recall a discourteous remark 
that has ever been made here in debate be- 
cause he has asked and accepted the am- 
nesty of the Government f Do you want us 
to say that the remaining seven hundred and 
fifty need not ask what you did ? Do the 
honorable gentlemen who are here to-day 
want easier terms on which the others may 
come in than the terms on which they them- 
selves oaiae back f 



S?KECH OF HON. JAMES A. GARFIELD, 



23 



Mr. HILL. I desire to ask a question for 
iaformatiou, for I want tlie facts, and my r*- 
ooUection differs from that of the gentle- 
man from Ohio, [Mr. Oarfikld.] The.act of 
1872, granting a partial amnesty to quite a 
large number, does not, as I understand it, 
make any such requisition as is contained 
in the amendment of the gentleman from 
Maine, [Mr. Blaink.] 

Mr. GARFIELD. The gentleman is right. 

Mr. HILL. It waR an unconditional am- 
nesty like that contained in the bill of the 
gentleman from Pennsylyania, [Mr. Ran- 
dall.] It required no oath or anything of 
the sort. 

Mr. GARFIELD. Certainly not. 

Mr. HILL. I am very sure that it was under 
that act that I was reliered. And I neTer 
applied for any amnesty at all, but I would 
not have felt it 

ANY LOSS OF PRIDK HAD I DONE 80. 

Mr. GARFIELD. Certainly not. I remem- 
ber Tery well that we relieved a large num- 
ber of soldiers in one act. But we did not 
relieve those who, at the time the rebellion 
broke out, held offices and commissions un- 
der the Government, which they had sworn 
before God they would protect and defend, 
and afterward went into the rebellion. Those 
are the people that we have required to ask 
for amnesty. 

Mr. HILL. Allow me to call the attention 
of the gentleman to a correction of his state- 
ment. The act of Congress of 1872 relieved 
all persons, as I understand it, from disabil- 
ities who had been members of any State 
Legislature, or who had been an executive or 
judicial officer of any State, and relieved all 
in civil or military service, or who had even 
been in the Congress of the United States, ex- 
cepting the Thirty-fifth or Thirty-sixth Con- 
gress. 

Mr. GARFIELD. The Thirty-sixth and 
Thirty-seventh Congresses. 

Mr." HILL. Well, one or the other. It 
relieved all those who were not in Congress 
at the time of secession, all members of State 
Legislatures, all civil and military officers, 
except the few remaining, some seven hun- 
dred and fifty. You granted them relief 
without any condition whatever. 

Mr. GARFIELD. The gentleman will ob- 
serve that those to whom he refers did 'not, 
at the time the war broke out, hold commis- 
sions as United States officers. 

Mr. HILL. Yes. 

Mr. GARFIELD. We excepted from am- 
nesty all those who held in their hands a 
commission from the Federal Government, 
and who had sworn to be true to their com- 
mission ; and we did this because they had 
added to rebellion — I must use words — 

THK CKIMK OV PERJURY 

In th« eyes of the law. 



Mr. TUCKER. Will the gentleman allow 
me to interrupt him ? 

Mr. GARFIELD. Certainly. 

Mr. TUCKER. Do I understand the gen- 
tleman from Ohio, speaking here to-day of 
kindness to gentlemen on this side of the 
House, to say that any man who held a commis- 
sion under the United States at the time the 
war broke eut, and who went into secession, 
was guilty of perjury ? 

Mr. GARFIELD. I will repeat precisely 
the measured words I used. I said "the 
crime of perjury in the eyes of the law." In 
view of the fact of flaming war, I do not say 
those men should be regarded as ordinary 
perjurers ; I never said that. But what will 
the gentleman call it ? By what other name 
does the law know it f I did not make the 
dictionary, nor did I make the law. The gen- 
tleman certainly knows me well enough to 
know that I am incapable of making a refer- 
ence to any personal matter in this discus- 
sion. He must see that I am using the word 
as it is used in the law. 

Mr. TUCKER. Mr. Speaker 

The SPEAKER pro tempore, (Mr. Springer 
in the chair.) Does the gentleman from Ohio 
yield further to the gentleman from Virgin- 
ia, [Mr. T0CKER f J 

Mr. GARFIELD. Certainly. 

Mr. TUCKER. I do not ask to interrupt 
the gentleman that I may excuse myself, but 
to excuse some of the noblest men that I 
have ever known, and of whom the gentle- 
man might bo proud to claim to be a peer. 

Mr. GARFIELD. There were some pas- 
sages in the speech of yesterday which make 
me less reluctant 

TO SPEAK OF BREAKINO OATHS. 

He said : 

We charge all our wrongs to that "higher 
law" fanaticism which never kept a pledge or 
obeyed a law. We sought to leave the associa- 
tion of those who would notkeep fidelity to cov- 
enant. We sought to go by ourselves ; but, so 
far from having lost our fiaellty to the Consti- 
tution, we hugged It to our bosoms and car- 
ried It with us. » * * But you gentlemen 
who persecuted us by your infidelities until 
you drove iis out of the Union, you who then 
claimed to be the only friends of the Union, 
which you had before denounced as a "league 
with hell and a covenant with death," you who 
follow up the war when the soldiers wlio 
fought It nave made peace and gone to their 
homes, to you we have no concessions to 
make. Martyrs owe no apology to tyrants. 

There is a certain snblimity of assumption 
in this which challenges admiration. Why 
the very men of whom we are talking, 
who broke their oaths of office to the nation 
— when we are speaking of relieving them we 
are told that they went out because we broke 
the Constitution and would not be bound by 
oaths. 1 'id we break the Constitution f Did 
we drive them out f I invoke thr- testimony 
of Alexander H. Stephens, now a member of 
this Houao, who, standing up in the secession 



24 



gPSMOH OF HON. JAMIS A. aARflSLD. 



convention of Georgia, declared that there 
was DO just ground for Georgia's going out ; 
declared that the election of a President 
according to the Constitution was no justifl 
able ground for secession, and declared that 
if under the circnmstances the South should 
go out she would herself be committing a 
gigantic wrong and would call down upon 
herself the thunders and horrors of civil war. 

Thus spoke Alexander H. Stephens in 
1860. Over against anything that may be 
said to the contrary I place his testimony 
that we did not force the South out ; that 
they went out a'gainst all the protests and 
the prayers and the humiliation that a great 
and proud nation could make without abso- 
lute disgrace.' 

Mr. DAVIS. Will the gentleman from 
Ohio yield to me a moment? 

Mr. GARFIELD. Certainly. 

Mr. DAVIS. The gentleman has used a 
term that touches the honor of more men 
than one in this House and in the South. I 
desire, therefore, to ask him this question: 
Whether the war did not result from a dif- 
ference of views between gentlemcu * the 
' North and gentlemen of the South witu re- 
gard to what was the true construction of 
the Constitution? That being so, I desire 
to ask him further whether the oath of fidel- 
ity to the Constitution was best observed by 
those people of the section which he repre- 
sents, those of his own party, who declared 
that there was a law higher than the Consti- 
tution and declined to obey that instrument, 
or by those who observed faithfully their 
constitutional obligations, and who, when 
raids were made upon them, merely defended 
themselves, as they understand it, 

FROM DNCONSTITETTIONAL .\OORES8I0N ? 

I wish to gay further for myself and for 
those who are here with me that, the Con- 
stitution having been amended — tlie "higher 
law" party having incorporated in that in- 
strument the abolition of slavery and cer- 
tain other features wLicb we have now sworn 
to support along with the rest of the instru- 
ment — if in the future we fail to observe 
that oath bi fore high Heaven, then we may 
be declared perjured; then we may be de- 
clared rebels; then w«j may be declared 
traitors. 

Mr. GARFIELD. If the gentleman has 
understood me he cannot fail to see that I 
have not used the word in any offensive 
sense, but in its plain and ordinary accepta- 
tion, as used in the law. We hold that the 
United States M'as 8 nation, bound together 
by a bond of perpetual union; a union which 
uo State or any combination of States, which 
no man or any combination of men, had the 
right, under the Constitution, to break. 
The attempt of the South to overthrow the 
Union was crime against the Govornment~the 



crime of rebellion. It can be described by no 
other name. It is so known to the laws of na- 
tions. It is so described in the decisions of 
the Supreme ' ourt. 

The j^entleman from North Carolina calls 

THE WAS ON ONE SIDE A RAID. 

I Will never consent to call oar war for the 
Union 'a raid,'' least of all a raid upon the 
rights of any human being. I admit that there 
wa- a political theory of State rights — a theory 
held, I have no doubt, by gentlemen like 
the gentleman of Virginia [Mr. Tucker] who 
spoke a moment ago — believed in as sin- 
cerely as I believe the opposite — which led 
them to think it was their duty to go when 
their State went. I admit that that greatly 
mitigates all that the law speaks of as a vio- 
lation of an oath. But I will never admit 
(for history gives the lie to the statement in 
every line) that the men of the Union were 
making a "raid" upon the rights of the 
South. 

Read the Republican platform of 1856 and 
of 1860. What did we contend for in those 
years? Simply that slavery should not be 
extended into any Territory already free. 
That was all. We forswore any right or 
purpose on our part in time of peace to touch 
slavery in any State. We only claimed that 
in the Territories, the common heritage of 
all the Union, slavery should never travel 
another inch; and, thank God, it no longer 
pollutes our soil or disgraces our civilization. 

Now that slavery, 

THE O0ILTT CAtTSB OT THE REBELLION. 

is no more, and that, so far as I know 
nobody wants it restored — I do not believe 
these gentlemen from the South desire its 
restoration 

Mr. HILL. We would not have it. 

Mr. GARFIELD. They would not have 
it, the gentleman from Georgia aays Then 
let us thank God that in the tierce flames of 
war the institution of slavery has been con- 
sumed; and out of its ashes let us hope a 
better than the fabled Phoenix of old will 
arise— a love of the Union high and deep, 
"as broad and general as the casing air," 
enveloping us all, and that it shall be 
counted no shame for any man who is not 
still under political disabilities to say with 
uplifted hand, "I will be true to it and take 
the proffered amnesty of the nation." But 
let us not tender it to be spurned. If it is 
worth having, it is worth asking for. 

And now, Mr. Speaker, I close as I began. 
Toward those men who gallantly fought us 
on the field I cherish the kindest feeling, i 
feel a sincere reverence for the soldierly 
qualities they displayed on many a well- 
fought battle-field. I hope the day will 
come whan their swords and ours will be 
crossed over many a doorway of our chil- 
dren, who will remember the glorj of their 



6PEE0H OF HON. JAMCS Q. Hh&TSH. 



26 



ancestors with pride. Th# high qualities 
displayed in that conflict now belong to the 
whole nation. Let them be consecrated to 
the Union and its future peace and glory. 
I shall hail that consecration a» a pledge and 
symbol of our perpetuity. 

But there was a class of men referred to 
in the speech of the gentleman yesterday 
for whom I have never yet gained the Chris- 
tian grace necessary to say the same thing. 
The gentleman said that amid the thunder 
of battle, through its dun smoke, and 
above its roar they heard a voice from this 
side saying, "Brothers, come." I do not 
know whether he meant the same thing, but 
I heard that voice behind us. I heard that 
voice, and I recollect that I sent one of those 
who uttered it through our lines — a voice 
owned by Vallandigham. [Laughter.] Gen- 
eral Scott said, in the early days of the war, 
"When this war is over, it will require all 
the physical and moral power of the Gov- 
ernment 

TO SESTRAIN THE KASB AND FFKY OF TH» NON- 
COMBATANTS." 

[Laughtor. ] It was that non-combatant 
voice behind us that cried "halloof" to 
the other side; that always gave cheer 
and encouragement to the enemy in our 



hour of darkness. I have never forgot- 
ten and have not yet forgiven those Dem- 
ocrats of the North whose heart» were not 
warmed by the grand inspirations ef the 
Union, but who stood back finding fault, 
always crying disaster, rejoicing at our de- 
feat, never glorying in our victory. If these 
are the voices the gentleman heard. I am 
sorry he is now united with those who ut- 
tered them. 

But to those most noble men, Democrats and 
Republicans, who together fought for the 
Union, I commend all the lessons of charity 
that the wisest and most beneficent men have 
taught. I join yon all 

IK KVKBT A8PIKATI0K 

that you may express to stay in this Union, to 
heal its wounds, to increase its glory, and to 
forget the evils and bitternessess of the past; 
but do not, for the sake of the three hun- 
dred thousand heroic men who, maimed 
and bruised, drag out their weary lives, 
many of them carrying in their hearts hor- 
rible memories of what they suffered in 
the prison-pen — do not ask us to vote to put 
back into power that man who was the cause 
of their suffering — that man atill unaneled, 
nnshrived, nnforgiven, undefended. [Great 
applause.] 



THE SHADOW OF A DEAD CONFEDERACY. 

In tlie House of Eepresentatlyes, Jan. 13, 1876. 

MR. BLAINE: 



Mr. Spbakkr, before proceeding with 
the remarks which I shall address to 
the question before the House, I desire 
to aay that in the discussion on the point of 
order that was raised just prior to the ad- 
journment last evening I did not intend to 
be understood an^ hope no gentleman an- 
derstood me as implying that the honorable 
Speaker intended in any way to deprive me 
of the right to speak. I did not so under- 
stand the Speaker, nor did I understand it 
to be the motive or object of the gentleman 
from Pennsylvania [Mr. Randall.] I say 
this much in justice to myself and in justice 
to the honorable incumbent of the chair. 

From the tone of the debate on the oppo- 
site side of the Chamber, Mr. Speaker, one 
would certainly imagine that the Repul)lican 
party, as represented in Congress, was try- 
ing to inflict some new punishment or add 
some fresh stigma to the name of Jefferson 
Davis, as well indeed as to lay some addi- 
tional burden on those other citizens of the 
Soiitli who are not yet fully amnestied. It may 
therefore not be unprofitable just to recall 
to the attention of the House the precise 
question at issue, and how it came here, and 
who it was that brought it here. 



[ The gentleman from Pennsylvania Intro- 
duced a bill to confer special honor on .Jef- 
ferson Davis ; for what honor can be higher 
than the full panoplied citizenship of the Uni- 
ted States of America f He has lost it by his 
crimes, and the gentleman from Pennsylva- 
nia proposes in hot haste, without debate, 
without amendment, to drag every gentle- 
man up to say "Aye" or "No" upon a bill 
declaring him to be entitled how and hence- 
forth to all the rights and all the honors of 
American citizenship. From that we dis- 
sent. We did not bring the question here, 
We are not seeking to throw any fresh ele- 
ment of an inflammatory kind into any discus- 
sion or difi'erence that may be between two 
jiarties or two sections, and whatever of that 
kind has grown from this discussion lies at 
the door of the gentleman from Pennsylvania 
and those who stand with him. 

Remember, Mr. Speaker, it is no proposi- 
tion to punish but a proposition to honor, 
and while we disclaim any intention or d esire 
to punish Jefferson Davis, we resist the 
proposition to honor him. And right here, 
as a preliminary matter, I desire to address 
myself for a moment to the constitutional 
point suggested by the honorable gentlsm&n 



26 



SPEECH OF HON. J AME8 Q. BLAINl. 



from Massachusetts, [Mr. Sbklte,] who ad- 
dressed the House last evening. He sees 
and appreciates the magnitude of the crime 
laid at the door of Jeflferson Davis, and he 
clearly pointed oat that neither the gentle- 
man from New York nor the gentleman from 
Georgia had palliated or dared to palliate 
the crimes with which I charged him. But 
he is bothered by the scruple that because 
we are permitted to punish for participancy 
in in3urre>tion or rebellion we cannot make 
any discrimination or distinction. Why, the 
honorable gentleman must have forgotten that 
this is precisely what we have been doing ever 
since the disability was imposed. We first 
removed the disabilities from the least offen- 
sive class ; then in the next list we removed 
those next in order of guilty participancy, 
and so on, until in 1872 we removed the 
disability from all, except the Army and Na- 
vy oflBcers, members of Congress, and heads 
of Departments. Why, sir, are we not as 
much justified to day in excepting Jefferson 
Davis as we were in l!^72 in excepting the 
seven hundred and fifty of whom he consti- 
tutes one f Therefore I beg to say to my 
honorable friend, whose co-operation I crave, 
that that point is res adjudicata by a hun- 
dred acts upon the statute-book. We are 
entirely competent to do just what la pro- 
posed in my amendment. 

Now, Mr. Speaker, on the question of the 
treatment of our prisoners and on the great 
question as to who was to blame- for break- 
ing exchange, the speech of the honorable 
gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Gakfibld] has 
left me literally nothing to say. He ex- 
hausted the subject. His speech was un- 
answerable, and I undertake to say that as 
yet no gentleman has answered one fact that 
he alleged — no gentleman in this House can 
answer one fact presented by him. I shall not 
therefore at any length dwell upon that. 
But in connection with one point in history 
there is something which I should feel it my 
duty, not merely as a member of the Repub- 
lican party which upheld the administration 
that conducted the war, but as a citizen of 
the American Union, to resist and resent, 
and that is, the allegations that were made 
in regard to the manner in which Confeder- 
ate prisoners were treated in the prisons of 
the Union. The gentleman from Georgia 
says : 

1 have also proved that with all the horrors 
you have made such a noise about asoecurrhig 
at Anderson ville, greater horrors occurred In 
the priaons where our troops were held. 

And I could not but admire the "our" 
and tlie "your" with which the gentleman 
conducted the whole discussion. It ill com- 
ported with his later prefession of Unionism. 
It was certainly flinging the shadow of a 
de;id Conlederacy a long way over the dial 
ef the Nation*! House of RopresentativeB; 



and I think the gentleman from New York 
fell into a little of the same line. Of that I 
shall speak again. The gentleman from 
Georgia goes on to say that — 

The atrocities of Andersonvllle do not begin 
to compare with the atroclllea of Elmlra, 
of Camp Doughis, of Fort Deln ware : und of all 
the atrocities both at Andersonvllle and at 
Elmlra the Confederate authorities stand ac- 
quitted. 

Mr. HILL. I certainly said no such thing. 
I stated distinctly that I brought no charge 
of crime against anybody. But I also stated 
distinctly that according to the geutleman'g 
logic that result followed. 

Mr. -BLAINE. But that is not the report- 
ed speech at all. 

Mr. HILL. I stated distinctly that I waa 
following the gentleman's logic. 

Mr. BLAINE. I am quoting the gentle- 
man's speech as he delivered it. I quote it 
as it appeared in the Daily Chronicle and the 
Associated Press report. I do not pretend 
to be bound by the version which may ap- 
pear hereafter, because I observed that the 
gentleman from New York [Mr. Cox] spoke 
one speech and published another, [great 
laughter,] and I suppose the gentleman 
from Georgia will do the same. 1 admiit 
that the gentleman has a difficult role to 
play. He has to harmonize himself with the 
great Northern Democracy and keep him- 
self in high line as a Democratic candidate 
for Senator from Georgia; and it is a very diffi- 
cult thing to reconcile the two. [Laughter.] 
The "barn-burner Democrats" in IS.'iS tried 
very hard to adhere to their anti-slavery 
principles in New York and still support the 
Pierce administration : and Mr. Greeley, 
with that inimitable humor which he pos- 
sessed, said that they found it a very hard road 
to straddle, like a militia general on parade 
on Broadway, who finds it an almost impos- 
sible task to follow the music and dodge the 
omnibuses. [Laughter.] Xnd that is what 
the gentleman does. The gentleman tries 
to keep step to the music of the Union and 
dodge his fire-eating constituency in Georgia. 
[Great laughter.] 

Then here is another quotation: 

We know our prisoners suffered In Federal 
hands, and we know how If we chose to tell. 
Thousands of oiir poor men came home from 
Fort Delaware and other places with their 
fingers frozen off, with their toes froxen off, 
with their teeth fallen out. 

Mr. HILL. The gentleman will allow me 
to answer. I said that these things were 
necessary incidents of the horrors of all 
prisons. 

Mr. BLAINE. But the gentleman states 
that that was a fact ? I do not understand 
him to back down from that assertion f 

Mr. HILL. No, sir. I saw it with my own 
eyes. 

Mr. BLAINE. Now, the gentlsmao from 



8J»X]£CH OV SON. JAMES G. BLAIK£. 



27 



th« Elmira district, [Mr, Walker,] and I 
honor him for il, was not h«ild in ieash as 
hib colleague from Now York [Mr. CoxJ was 
by party fidelity and Southern sympathy, 
and came out like a man and vindicated his 
constituents. The gentleman from Georgia 
makes this charge of ill-treatment of Con- 
federate prisoners at Camp Douglas. 
«•»*«■♦♦♦ 

Now Mr. Speaker, I desire to call attention 
to the remajrk of the gentleman from New 
York, who, as 1 said, delivered one speech 
and published another. 

Mr. COX. I did not change anything in 
my speech or in my colloquy with yon. 

Mr. BLAINE. The gentleman will hare 
time to answer. I gay the gentleman from 
New Y'ork delivered one speech and printed 
another. 

Mi. cox. Go on with your talk; you are 
getting used up on this side. [Laughter.] 

Mr. BLAINE. The gentleman from New 
York stated that "he had it on the authority 
of sixty and odd gentlemen here, many of 
them haying been in the service of the Con- 
federacy during the war, that no order was is- 
sued at anytime in the South relative to pris- 
oners who were taken by the South as to ra- 
tions or clothing that did not apply equally to 
their own soldiers, and that any ex parte 
statements taken by that humbug committee 
on the conduct of the war could not contro- 
vert the facts of history " The gentleman 
therefore stands up here aa denying the 
atrocities of Andersonville. He seconds the 
gentleman from Georgia and gives the weight 
of whatever may be attached to his word to 
denying that fact. Now, the gentleman him- 
self did not always talk so. I have here a 
debate that occurred on the 2lst of December, 
1864, in which, while the proposition was 
pending in the House for retaliation, the 
gentleman, then from Ohio, said: 

This resolution provides for Inflicting upon 
the rebel prisoners who may be In our hanUa 
the same uihwniane, barbarous, horrible treat- 
ment which has been Infllctea upon our sol- 
diers held as prisoners by the rebels. 

Now, Mr, Speaker — 

Continued the enraged gentleman at that 
time — 

It does not follow that because the rebels have 
made brute* and fieridn of themselves that we 
should do likewise, 

Mr. COX. That is good sense. 

Mr, BLAINE. "There is," he says, "a 
certain law of retaliation in war, I know; 
but," continued the gentleman, "no man 
will stand up here and say, after due delib- 
eration, that he would reduce these prison- 
ers thrust into our hands into the same con- 
dition exhibited by these skeletons, these 
pictures, there anatomies brought to our at- 
tention and laid upon the desks of members 
of Congress." Then the gentleman says: 
"It do«B not follow because our prisoners 



j are tr«>ated in the way represented, and no 
j doubt truthfully rei)reseulrtd." Thatiswhat 
the gentleman said in 1864; but when a 
solemn committee of Congress, made up of 
honorable gentlemen of both sides of ,the 
House, bring in exactly the statements 
which verify all this, then the gentleman 
states "that the authority was a humbug 
committee." 

Mr. COX rose. 

Mr. BLAINE. Wait; you will hare plenty 
of time, 

Mr. COX. I did not get up to interrupt 
the gentleman. 

Mr. BLAINE. Now the gentleman Ukes 
his side among the great defenders of An- 
dersonville, and states there has been noth- 
ing made out against Andersonville except 
upon ex parte statements. 

Now, Mr. Speaker, while I do not wish to 
be interrupted, I would like, by & nod, if 
the gentleman from Georgia [Mr. HillJ will 
be good enough to tell me — for he is a well- 
practiced lawyer and I am not one at all; 
and when witnesses are in doubt they are 
allowed time to reflect and refresh their 
memory — I ask him to tell me after reflection 
whether he recollects having introduced 
this resolution into the Confederate Senate. 

Mr. HILL. Which? 

Mr. BLAINE. The following : 

Senator 11111, of Georgia, introduced the fol- 
lowiug resolution in the Oonfeilerate (Jongress 
. in Octobur, 18bi : "That every person pretend- 
ing to be a soldier or officer of the United 
States who shall be captured on the soil of the 
Confederate States after the first day of .Janu- 
ary, 186a, shall be presumed to have entered 
the territory of the Confederate Status with 
Intent to Incite iusarrection and to abet mur- 
der : and, unless satLnfactory proof be adduced 
to tne contrary before the military court bo- 
fore which the trial shall be had, he shuU suf- 
fer death. And this section sha^l continue in 
force until the proclamation issued by Abra- 
ham Lincoln, datad Washington, September 
2-1, 1872, shall be rescinded," 

Did the gentleman introduce that resolu- 
tion f 

Mr, HILL. Do you want an answer ? 

Mr. BLAINE. Yes, 

Mr. HILL, I will say this : I state pre- 
cisely and frankly, as I stated to the gentle- 
man day before yesterday, that I do not re- 
collect being the author of that resolution. 
I have no doubt the resolution was intro- 
duced, and I will state this : that at the 
time there was a belief in the Confederacy — 

Mr. BLAINE. I did not yield for a speech. 
I only wanted to know that. * * * * 

Mr. Speaker, what does this mean ? What 
did the gentleman from Georgia mean when, 
from the committee on the judiciary, he 
introduced the following : 



•2. Every white person who shall act as a 
commissioned or non-conimlasioned officer, 
coiniiKiiidlng negroes or niiilattoes against 
the Confr'd.riite otates, or who shall arm, or- 
ganize, train, or prepare negroen or malattOM 



28 



SPEECH OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 



for tnllltary service, or aid them In any mili- 
tary enterprise apalnst the Confederate States 
shall. If captured, suffer death. 

3. Every couiml^loued or non-commlsslon- 
ed officer of the enemy who shall incite slaves 
to rebellion, or pi>etend to give them freedom, 
under tbe aforementioned act of Congress and 
proclamation, by abducting, or causing them 
to be abducted, "or inducing them to abscond, 
shall, if captured, sutler death. 

Now, Mr. Speaker, 1 have searched some- 
what, but in vain, for anything iu the 
world that rivals this. I did find, and have 
here in my minutes, the proclamation of 
Valmeseda, the Captain-General of Cuba, 
who was recalled by Spain because of his 
atrocious cntelties to the inhabitants of that 
island ; and the worst tiling in all the atro- 
cities laid to his charge was that ho pro- 
claimed "that every man or boy over fifteen 
years found away from his house, not being 
able to give a satisfactory reason therefor, 
should suflfer death.'" lie copied it from the 
resolution of the gentleman from Georgia. 

Now, Mr. Speaker, I hold iu my hand a 
copy of the Atlanta Consiiiulion, printed on 
the 24th of January, 1 875. We are told that 
all these allegations against Jefi"ersou Davis 
should be forgiven because they are all of 
the dead past. 

We are told that we should not revive 
them, that there should be nothing in the 
world brought up in any way to disturb the 
beautiful serenity of the Centennial year, 
and that to make any allusion to them what- 
ever is to do an unwelcome and unpatriotic 
act. The very last declaration we have 
from Jefferson Davis authentically, in the 
life which the gentleman from Georgia held 
the other day as a text book, reads thus : 

Time will show, however, the amount of 
truth In the prophecy of Jefferson Davis- 
Says the biographer, made in reply to the 
remark that the cause of the Confederacy 
was lost. Mr. Davis said : 

It appears so, but the principle for which we 
contended is bound to reassert itself, though it 
viuy be ut another time and in another fornv. 

Now 1 have here, of the date of January 
24, 1875, a speech by Hon. B. H Hill, in 
the Atlanta Constitution, and it is said to 
have been the "grandest speech" he ever 
delivered. 

Mr. HILL. Oh, that is a mistake. 

Mr. BLAINE. The gentleman says it is a 
mistake. I know he has delivered some 
very grand speeches, but the editor charac- 
terizes this as the grandest of them all. I 
quote from him : 

Fellow-citizens, I look to the contest of 1876 
not only as the most important that ever oc- 
curred in American history, but as the most 
important In the history of the world ; for if 
the people of the country cannot be aroused 
to give au overwheliniug vote ugalusl this 
Kepu Oilcan party It will perpetuate Itself in 
power in the United States by precisely the 
»a,me means that the President has taken in 
LoulMiaan, ana the pcf>ple will bejpowerless to 



frevent It except they go to war. [Applause.! 
f we fall with the ballot-boi In 18/G by reason 
Offeree, a startling question will present it- 
self to tlie -American people. I triist we will 
not fall. 1 hope the Northern people have 
had a sulHcieut subsidence of passion to see 
this question fairly. 

Then the gentleman goes on to say — 

If we must have war — 
why his voice is always for war. 

Mr. HILL. Never, never ! 

Mr. BLAINE. The gentleman says — 

If we must have war ; If we cauBot preserve 
this Constitution and constitutional Govern- 
ment by the ballot; if force is to defeat the 
ballot ; if the war must come— God forbid that 
It should come — but if it must come; If folly, 
if wickedness, if Inordinate lovo of power 
shall decree that America must save her Con- 
stitution by blood, let it come; 1 am ready. 
[Laughter.] 

Mr. HILL. Will the gentleman allow m« 
one word ? 

Mr. BLAINE. Not now. There will be 
plonty of time. And then the gentleman 
said in another speech of May 12 : 

He impressed upon the colored men of the 
country the truth thut, If the folly and wick- 
edness were consumiiutted in war, they would 
be the greatest sutferers. If peace was pre- 
served they were safe, but as sure as one war 
had freed them, just as sure another wh.t 
would re-enslave them. 

Now that was pi ocisely the kind of talk 
we had here by folios and reams before the 
rebellion. Oh, yes; you were for war then, 
The gentleman iu his speech says that the 
Union now is an unmixed blessing, providing 
the Democratic party cau rule it, but that if 
the Republican party must rule it he is for 
war. Why, that is just what Jefferson Da- 
vis said in 1861. 

I have here very much more of the same 
kind. I have been supplied with very 
abundant literature emanating from the gen- 
tleman, more, indeed, than I have had time 
to read. He seems to have been as volumin- 
ous as the Spanish Chroniclers. In one 
speech he says : 

I must say a word about this list of dlsabiHt- 
ties removed. 1 woTild rather see my name 
recorded in the Georgia penitentiary than to 
find It on a list of the removal of disabilities. 
Why, my friends, do j'ou not know that when 
j'ou go to that Congress and ask for a removal 
of disabilities you aflmlt that you are a traitorT 

Mr. HILL. What do you read from f 
Mr. BLAINE. From a report in a Cincin- 
nati Daily Gazette, giving an account of a 
great meeting in 1868, at which Howell Cobb, 
Robert Toombs, and the Hop B. H. Hill 
made speeches. And there the gentleman 
declared that he would rather have his 
name on the list of the Georgia penitentiary 
than on a list of the removal of disabilities. 
Mr. Speaker, I do not desire to stir up 
more needless ill-blood, but the gentleman 
from Ohio [Mr. Gakfield] yesterday, appar- 
ently without much thought, spoke of a 
olasa of men iu the Southern States who had 



SPEECH OS' HON. JAMES (J. BLAINE. 



committed perjury, and I would like to ad- 
dress the gentleman & question that he can 
answer when he gets the floor. 

Mr. HILL. Will you not allow me to an- 
swer it now f 

Mr. BLAINE. No, sir; not now. Suppose 
you inaugurate a great war if the Republi- 
can party retains power, and you and all 
these gentlemen who sympathize with you 
upon this floor, and who had taken an oath 
to bear true allegiance to the Government of 
the United States, and that you took that 
oath without mental reservation, then revolt 
against the coantry; what would that be ? 
Would it have any relatic^a to perjury f 

But, Mr. Speaker, you see the effect of the 
speeches of the gentleman from Georgia. 
They are very tremendous down there. The 
very earth quakes under him. One of his 
organs says : 

We assert without fear of contradiction that 
Mr. Hill In his liltter d enunciation of scala- 
wags and carpet-baggers has deterred thou- 
sands of them from entering the ranks of the 
radical pai'ty. They ilare not do so for fear of 
social ostracism, and to-day the white popu- 
lation of Georgia are unanimous lu favor of 
the Democratic party. 

And when he can get the rest of the 
States to the same standard he is for war. 

Now, Mr. Speaker, the gentleman cannot, 
by withholding liis speech here and revising 
it and adapting it to the northern Democracy, 
erase his speeches in Georgia. I have quoted 
from them. I have quoted from Democratic 
papers. There is no accusation that there is 
any perversion in Republican papers or that 
he was misrepresented. But the gentleman 
deliberately states that in a certain contin- 
gency of the Republican party having power 
he is for war; and I undertake here to say 
that, in all the mad, hot wrath in the Thirty- 
sixth Congress that precipitated the revolt 
in this country there is not one speech to be 
found that breathes a more determined re- 
bellion against lawful authority or a guiltier 
readiness to resist it than the speech of the 
gentleman from Georgia. 

Mr. Speaker, I have not much time left. 
I said briefly in my first speech that God 
forbid I should lay at the door of the South- 
ern people, as a people, these atrocities. I 
repeat it. I lay no such charge at their 
door. Sir, I have read in this "ex /:)ar^e hum- 
bug report" that there were deep movements 
among the Southern people about these atroc- 
ities; that there was a profound sensibility. 
I know that the leading oflicers of the Con- 
federacy protested against them; I know that 
many of the subordinate officers protested 
againrit them. I know that an honorable 
gentleman from North Carolina, now repre- 
senting his State in the other end of the Cap- 
itol, protested against them. But I have 
searched the records in Tain to find that the 



gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Hill] protested 
against them. They were known to the 
Confederate Congress; they were known at 
the doorway of your Senate and along the 
corridors of your Capitol. The honorable 
and venerable gentleman in my eye at 
this moment who served in the Confed- 
erate Congress, and who had before served 
in the Senate of the United States, himself 
brought them to the attention of the Confed- 
erate Congress, and I class him with great 
gladness among those whose humanity was 
never quenched by the fires of the rebellion. 
I allude to Hon. Henry S. Foote. 

My time is running and I have very little 
left. I confess — and I say it to the gentle- 
man from Georgia with no personal unkind- 
ness — I confess that my very blood boiled, 
if there was anything of tradition, of memo- 
ry, of feeling, it boiled, when I heard the 
gentleman, with his record, which I have 
read, seconded and sustained by the gentle- 
man from New York, arraigning the admin- 
istration of Abraham Lincoln, throwing ob- 
loquy and slander upon the grave of Edwin 
M. Stanton, and demanding that Jefferson 
Davis should be restored to full citizenship 
in this country. Ah ! that is a novel spec- 
tacle; the gentleman from Georgia does not 
know how novel ; the gentleman from New 
York ought to know. The gentleman from 
Georgia does not know and he cannot know 
how many hundred thousands of northern 
bosoms were lacerated by his course. 

Mr. HILL. I never said it, Mr. Blaink ; 
you are mistaken. 

Mr. BLAINE. Oh, no; you accused the ad- 
ministration of Mr. Lincoln with breaking 
the cartel and violating the honor of the 
Government, and a thousand other things; 
the speech as published in the papers show 
it. And as soon as he made it the gentle- 
man from New York run to him in hot haste 
to congratulate him, sympathizing, I sup- 
pose, with the assault. 

Mr. HILL. Upon that subject I read 
nothing but published letters and docu- 
ments, and of northern origin at that. 

Mr. BLAINE. I repeat, that proposition 
strikes — I might say almost terror into north- 
ern hearts; that here, in an American Con- 
gress, the gentleman who offered that reso- 
lution in the Confederate Congress, who in 
his campaign for a seat in this House comes 
here breathing threatenings and slaughter, 
who comes here telling you that in a certain 
contingency he means war, advising his 
people to be ready for it — that gentleman, 
profaning the very altar of patriotic liberty 
svith the speech that sends him here, ar- 
raigning the Adminiatratiou that conducted 
the war and saved tlie Union — that gentle- 
man asks us to join wilii him in pa^iing the 
last full measure of honor that an Amerioan 



80 



8?KSCH OF HON. JAMES Qt. BLAINIS. 



Congress can pay to tha arch «nemy of th,« 
Union, the arch-fiend of the rebellion. 

Suppose Jefferson Davis is not pardoned ; 
suppose he is not amnestied. Oh I you can- 
notTiave a centennial year without that I No 
man on this side has ever intimated that 
Jefferson iJavis should be refused pardon on 
account of any political crimes ; it is too 
late for that ; it is because of a personal 
crime. 

If yon ask that there may be harmonious 
and universal rejoicing over every forgiven 
man, release all your criminals ; set free 
every man who has been sentenced for piracy 
or for murder by your United States courts ; 
proclaim the jubilee indeed 

Mr. HEREFORD. And the whisky con- 
victs ! 

Mr. BLAINE. Mr. Speaker, that reminds 
me of one thing which in the haste and pres- 
sure of my hour I might have forgotten. The 
gentleman from Georgia aimed to be very 
humorous about General Grant, and said 
that the logic which I had presented the 
other day in regard to Jefferson Davis made 
General Grant responsible for McDonald and 
Joyce. The gentleman might have thought 
that he was witty, but I could not see it. 
Mr. HILL. I know you could not. 
Mr. BLAINE. It was not so witty as the 
remarks of the gentleman from New York, 
[Mr. Cox.] It was more grim. If Jefferson 
Davis, the moment the crimes of Anderson- 
ville had been brought to his attention, had 
arraigned the offenders with all competent 
autliority, and had issued an order that ''no 
guilty man should escape," there would be 
some little consistency in tlie gentleman's 
position. It was therefore ill-conceived lev- 
ity, and in very bad taste, for the gentleman 
to introduce General Grant's name in that 
connection. 

But I am authorized, if the gentleman 
desires it — not authorized especially to men- 
tion it here, but I mention it on the author- 
ity of General Grant, whom the gentleman 
from Georgia impugned in connection with 

the exchange of prisoners 

Mr. HILL. No, sir. 

Mr. BLAINE. To say that one thing touch- 
ing the exchange of prisoners was that the 
Davis government observed no honor in re- 
gard to it; and General Grant states that the 
brigade of Carter L. Stephenson, that was 
dislodged at Chattanooga, was made up of 
paroled prisoners from Vicksbxirg, and 
that Stephenson himself was one of them. 
He states that the paroled prisoners of one 
day in front of his line Vere taken the next. 
But in stating this he was careful to say 
that, as to Lee and the two Johnstons and 
Pemberton. and the other leading Confed- 
erate generals, their word was honor itself; 
but that for the Davis executive govern- 



ment there was no honor in it — none what- 
ever. The gentleman has got enough of 
General Grant by this time, I hope. 

Now in regard to the relative number of 
prisoners that died in the North and the 
South respectively, the gentleman under- 
took to show that a great many more pris- 
oners died in tlie hands of the Union author- 
ities than in the hands of the rebels. I have 
had conversations with surgeons of the Army 
about that, and they say that there were 
a large number of deaths of rebel prison- 
ers, but that during the latter period of the 
war they came into our hands very much 
exhausted, ill-clad, ill-fed, di.^^eased, so that 
they died in our prisons of diseases that 
they brought with them. And one eminent 
surgeon said, without wishing at all to be 
quoted in this debate, that the question was 
not only what was the condition of the pris- 
oners when they came to us, but what it was 
when they were sent back. Our men were 
taken in full health and strength; they came 
back wasted and worn — mere skeletons. The 
rebel prisoners, in largo numbers, were, 
when taken, emaciated and reduced ; and 
General Grant says that at the time such 
superhuman efforts were made for exchange 
there were 90,000 men that would have re- 
enforced your armies the next day, prisoners 
in our hands who were in good health and 
ready for fight. This consideration sheds 
a great deal of light on what the gentleman 
states. 

The gentleman from Illinois [Mr. HuRt, 
but] puts a letter into mv hands. I read it 
without really knowing what it may show: 
Confedsrjltk States of Ambrtoa, 

War DBrABTMKNT, 

Itichrnond, Virginia, March 21, 18C3. 
My Dear Sir : If the exigencies of our army 
require the use of trains for the traTisportatlon 
of corn, pay no regard to the Yankee prison- 
ers. I wouUi rather they should starve than 
our own people nuffer. 

I suppose 1 can safely put it In writing: "Let 
thert\ suffer." The words are memorable, and 
It is fortunate that lu this case they can be 
applleil properly and without the intervention 
of a lying quartermaster. 

Very truly, your faithful friend, 

ROBERT OULD. 
Colonel A. C. Mysrs. 

That is a good piece of literature in thin 
connection. Mr Ould, I believe, was the 
rebel commissioner to exchange. When 
the gentleman from ^^eorgia next takes the 
floor I want him to state what excuse there 
was for ordering the Florida artillery, in 
case General Sherman's army got within 
seven miles of Andersonville, to fire on that 
stockade. 

Mr. HILL. That was just to keep your 
Army from coming. That is all. 

Mr. BLAINE. Upon this point letters 
have flowed in upon me — letters which, 
without pretending to any extraordinary 



8?1KCH qf HON. JAMMS O. BLAINB. 



81 



teBderness, I say in this presence I could 
not rejid without unbecoming emotion. 

Mr. HILL. Will the gentleman allow me 
to say 

Mr. BLAINE. I have a letter which states 
that at AndiTsonrille they had stakes put 
up with tlag.'^ in order that the line of fire 
might be properly directed from the battery 
of Florida artillery. 

Mr. HILL. Oh, that is not so. 

Mr. BLAINE. There is that order. 

Mr. HILL. That is said to be a forgery. 
I do not know whether it is genuine or not. 
You have the records ; we hare not ; you 
will not let us see them. You merely say 
what they are. Let us see the whole of 
them. 

Mr. BLAINE. Let us take one single 
case. I suppose the gentleman would deny 
that they ever used bloodhounds at Ander- 
Bonville. 

Mr. HILL. Oh, no ; though I do not my- 
self know the fact. 

Mr. BLAINE. Did the gentleman ever 
hear of Colonel James H. Fannin, of the first 
Georgia reserves, who was on duty at An- 
dersonville f 

Mr. HILL. Oh, yes. 

Mr. BLAINE. He says "that Surgeon 
Turner, the owner of the dogs, belonged to 
the first regiment of reserves of my company. 
Then he goes on to tell how the dogs were 
obtained and how used ; and here is one of 
the returns made by Wirz : 

Twenty-ftve men more escaped during the 
month, but they.were taken by the dogs before 
the dally returns were made out. 

The gentleman is a very able lawyer — 

Mr. JONES, of Kentucky. Has not the 
time of the gentleman from Maine expired f 

The SPEAKER pro tempore, (Mr. Hoskins 
in the chair.) The time of the gentleman 
from Maine has not expired. 

Mr. HANCOCK. He commenced ten min- 
utes before one o'clock. 

Mr. JONES, of Kentucky. I ask that the 
flfty-seventh rule of the House be read. I 
should like to have it read, because the gen- 
tleman from Maine is constantly violating 
the rules of this House. 

Mr. BLAINE. In what respect f 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentle- 
man from Kentucky is out of order, 

Mr . JONES, «f Kentucky. I rise to a point 
of order. 

Mr. BLAINE. I hope it will not bo taken 
out of my time. 



The SPEAKER pro tejnpore. The Speaker 
of the House set the dial exactly at the time 
the gentleman from Maine commenced his 
speech, showing exactly when his hour will 
expire, and the present occupant of the 
chair when that time is reached will notify 
the House. 

Mr. BLAINE. How much time have I 
leftr 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. About two 
minutes. 

Mr. BLAINE. The gentleman ia inconsist- 
ent. I should like to get him to admit 
something. He does not deny that blood- 
hounds were used at Andersonville. 

Mr. HILL. I understood they were ; I 
do not know ; farm dogs, not bloodhounds. 

Mr. BLAINE. Here are four or five 
Georgia witnesses. I conclude in the two 
minutes left me by saj'ing that in all the 
evidence I have adduced I have never asked 
to bring in one piece of Union testimony ; 
the whole of it is from Confederate prisoners. 

Why, Mr. Speaker, the administration of 
Martin Van Buren, that went down in a pop- 
ular convulsion in 1840, had no little of 
obloquy thrown upon it because it had ven- 
tured to hunt the Seminoles in the swamps 
of Florida with bloodhounds. 

A Member. No bloodhounds there. 

Mr. BLAINE. Blood thirsty dogs were 
sent after the hiding savages, and the civili- 
zation of the nineteenth century and the 
Christian feeling of the American people 
revolted at it. And I state here, and the 
gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Hill] cannot 
deny it, that upon the testimony of witness- 
es as numerous as would require me all day 
to read bloodhounds were used ; that large 
packs of them were kept, and Georgia officers 
commanded them ; that they were sent -after 
the poor unfortunate, shrinking men who 
by any accident could get out of that horri- 
ble stockade. I state, sir, tliat the civiliza- 
tion of the world stands aghast at what was 
done at Andersonville. And the man who 
did that was sustained by JeflFersou Davis, 
and promoted. Yet the gentleman pays that 
was analogous to General Grant sending 
McDonald to the penitentiary. 

Mr. Speaker, in view of all these facta I 
have only to say that if the American Con- 
gress, by a two-thirds vote, shall pronounce 
JeflFersou Davis worthy to be restored to the 
full rights of American citizenship, I can 
only vote against it and hang my head in 
silence, and regret it. [Applause.] 



PRACTICABLE AMNESTY. 

Ifl tlie House nf RepresentatlTes, Jan. U, 1878. 



MR: BLAINE 



Mr. St-kakeb, the o>)ject of this aide of th« 
House is not to become obstnictlve, Is not to 
delay legislation by those means with ^rhlch 
in ( bo last Congress we were made so familiar. 
We bave no desire to filibuster, although the 
clvil-rlKhts bill, which was designed to give 
the rijlits of manhood to the colored nieni- 
bers, was ordered to be reported regularlj 
from a oommlttee, and tor seventeen consec- 
utive Monday mornings filibustering cut otT 
the chance to report it; and one of th« chief 
parliamentarv glories ofmv honorable friend 
froiu PennsylvHnia [Mr. IIa^jdai.l] was that 
by extreme iise of this power he prevented 
the consideration of that bill. We design no 
sucli process. We simply desire to have a vote 
upon the question whether .Jefferson Davis 
shall be Included In this general amnesty; and 
in addition to thut, if my friend from Massa- 
chusetts. [Mr. l*.AKKf?,];who smiles with that 
winsome smile to which I am always ready to 
respond, will allow me. he will observe that 
m\- amendment ie V>etter than his in another 
rt'si>ect. I will read it in the original terms 
in which 1 offered It : 

"That all persons now under disabilities Im- 
posed by the fourteenth amendment to the 
Conatltutlon of the United States, with the 
exception of JiWerson Duvls, late President 
of the so-called (Confederate States, shall be 
relieved of such disabilities upon their ap- 
pearing before any juilge of the United States 
and faking and supscribing, in open court, the 
following oath, d>ily attested:" 

Now the gentlemen's amendment maJces it 
necessary that an oath be talcen In any court 
In any St'ate, a court of probate for instance— 
anv small court. I think that this is a miatter 
with which the Uj^lted States Is dealing. It is 
a governmental,^ atter between the Govern- 
Doent of the Unlfr^i! States and some of its err- 
ing children. They are coming back to the 
United Stateslo be feclothed and rehabilitated 
with the full rights and glories of American 
citizenship. 1 think tliat important transac- 
tion should becognlzable only in courts of the 
United States, in that respect 1 claim that iny 
amendment Is tictter than that of the gentle- 
man from Massachusetts. As te the oath pro- 
posed in tlie two amendments, there Is no dif- 
ference between them, or if there Is any dif- 
ference It is merely verbal.' 

I hold In my hand a letter which I endeav- 
ored to have this morning the poor prlTilege 
of reading, and which 1 could not get, but 
again under the rules of the House, always be- 
neficent; and which I have no doubt will al- 
ways 1)6 beneficent as administered by the 
honorable occupant of the chair, I have that 
privilege. This morning I received a letter 
which I commend to gentlemen from the 
South. With that fascinating elO(nunce which 
my friend from Massachusetts [Mr. Banks] 
possesses, he called yourattention to thegreat 
value in this centennial year of having noQian 
in the length and breadth "of the land under 
the slightest politics] disabilities, and why ex- 



cept poor Jefferson Davis! I have here a let- 
ter written to me without any request, and, so 
far as 1 knew, without any "expectation that 
it would be uiade public; but 1 aui sure that 
even if It be a private letter the gentleman 
writing it will pardon me for reading it. It is 
as follows: 

"RALEieH, North Caroliwa, 

'^' January 12, 1876. 

"My Dear Sir: I observe there is excitement 
In the House on the amnesty proposition. 

"In 1870 1 was impeached and removed from 
office as Governor of this State solely because 
of a movement which I put on foot accoiding 
to the Constitution and the law to suppress 
the bloody Ku Rlux This was done by the 
Democrats of this State, the allies anil the 
echoes of Northern Democrats. I was also 
disqualified by the judgment of removal from 
holding oftlce in this State. The Democratic 
It-gislature of this State and its late constitu- 
tional convention were appealed to in vain by 
my friends to remove this disability. The 
late convention, in which the Democrats had 
one majority by fraud, refused by a strict par- 
ty vole to remove my disabilities thus im- 
posed ; and 1 am now the only man In North 
Carolina who cannot hold office. 

"I think these facts should be borneinmind 
when the Democrats in Congress clanior for 
relief to the late insurgent leaders. Pardon 
the liberty I have taken in referring to this 
matter, and believe me, trulv, your friend, 
"W. W. HOLDEN. 

"Hon. -JAXBa G. Blainb." 

Now, gentlemen, what have you to say to 
that? It is purely a political Impeachment; 
not prosecution, ' but persecution; perae- 
cutlon of a man for opinion's sake. And 
it Is to-day within the design of the Dem- 
ocratic party to remove Governor Ames, of 
Mississippi, from his chair by impeachment, 
and to disqualify him from holding office. The 
legislation proposed here has this end, that 
two friends of the Union, one a Union man of 
North Carolina, and the other as gallant a 
Union sold.'er as ever tied sash around his 
body, are to be disfranchised and disabled 
meii, and poor JelTerson Davis is to be let free 
to enjoy the Centennial at Philadelphia. 
[Laughter.] 

»»♦»» # » ♦ ♦ 

Now 1 wish to make this proposition that 
I may bring my bill before the House by 
unarUmous consent, and 1 will yicbl to any 
gentleman to move an amendment to it. "I 
will give to that side of the House all 1 have 
asked for this side. Now, If it he the ease that 
gentlemen will refuse that proposition, then 
it is because they do not want any bill passed. 
I am for a practicable amnesty. I am for an 
amnesty that will go through. 

Mr. KOBin.NS, of North Carolina. I object. 

Mr. BLAINE. Now, Mr. Speaker, 1 will end 
this matter, which 1 have within my power. 
I withdraw the motion to reconsider. 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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